Why Do Workers with Disabilities Earn Less? Occupational Job Requirements and Disability Discrimination

We analyse 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. The results indicate that only part of the disability pay gap is due to productivity‐related job require...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBritish journal of industrial relations Vol. 56; no. 4; pp. 798 - 834
Main Authors Kruse, Douglas, Schur, Lisa, Rogers, Sean, Ameri, Mason
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2018
Subjects
Cognition
Deafness
Disability
Discrimination
Employment discrimination
Hearing
Income inequality
Job requirements
Labor relations
Mobility
People with disabilities
Productivity
Wage differential
Workers
Workers with disabilities
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Summary:We analyse 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. The results indicate that only part of the disability pay gap is due to productivity‐related job requirements. The remaining pay gap — experienced by employees whose impairments should not limit their productivity — reflects potential discrimination. The discrimination‐related pay gaps appear to be smallest and possibly non‐existent for women and men with hearing impairments, and largest for those with cognitive and mobility impairments. Overall the results indicate that discrimination is likely to remain an influence on the pay of many workers with disabilities.
ISSN:0007-1080
1467-8543
DOI:10.1111/bjir.12257