Expanding Employee Wages: Impact of Minimum and Sub-Minimum Wages
This study will conduct pre and post comparisons of employment outcomes of people with disabilities as state-level minimum wages are increased, compared to otherwise-similar states that have not increased their minimum wage at the same time. The outcomes will include a) employment rates, b) pay levels, and c) overall income levels.
Featured Research
Douglas Kruse, Lisa Schur, Sean Rogers, and Mason Ameri
2024
This study investigates how access to assistive technologies affects employment and earnings among people with disabilities. Methods: We first document employment and earnings gaps associated with specific impairments and activity limitations using 2017–2021 American Community Survey and 2014 Survey of Income and Program Participation data. We then use accommodations data from the 2012, 2019, and 2021 Current Population Survey (CPS) Disability Supplements to examine employment and earnings growth for people with disabilities related both to any, and to technology-based, accommodations. The three developing assistive technologies we describe illustrate the potential to reduce the estimated employment and earnings deficits. Conclusion: Assistive technology accommodations have potential for improving employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
Douglas Kruse, Lisa Schur, Sean Rogers, and Mason Ameri
2018
We analyze competing explanations for the lower pay of employees with disabilities, using 2008–2014 data from the American Community Survey matched to O*Net data on occupational job requirements.