Investigating Demographic and Service Predictors of Hourly Wages and Weekly Working Hours of Youth With Disabilities

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014 increased the support toward transition-age youth with disabilities via the provision of pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS). Research has suggested that Pre-ETS contributes to the employment outcomes of transition-age youth, yet limited information remains surrounding the impact of these services on the quality of employment (i.e., wages and hours). The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of demographic characteristics, disability-related characteristics, barriers, Pre-ETS, and individualized vocational rehabilitation (VR) services on hourly wages and weekly hours worked among transition-age youth with disabilities who exited with competitive integrated employment. Data from the Rehabilitation Service Administration’s Case Service Report (RSA-911) between the program years of 2017–2020 were utilized for this study. Two hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relationship between the five categories of independent variables and the two dependent variables. Our findings revealed several predictors of hourly wages and weekly hours worked among the 5,313 transition-age youth with disabilities in our sample. Significant predictors of hourly wages and weekly hours worked included identifying as male, having autism or an intellectual disability, and receiving postsecondary education training services, among others. Implications for research, policy, and practice are discussed.