Starting Behind: Wage and Employment Differentials Between Young Adults With and Without Disabilities

Abstract

We estimate the wage offers and employment of young adults with and without disabilities using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 data. We find evidence that wage offer and employment gaps between adults with and without disabilities emerge early and are largest for those with mental limitations or any type of severe limitation. The wage offer gaps we estimate between people with and without disabilities are almost always larger than the wage gaps between those groups. These employment and wage offer gaps that exist in early adulthood likely help explain some of the differences in human capital, employment, and earnings between older adults with and without disabilities. The results also highlight the need for interventions that improve the employability and wage offers of youth with disabilities.