| The CPS survey is the primary source
of employment data for persons in the United States, and the source of the
government’s monthly unemployment rates that are widely quoted by the
media. The Census Bureau collects disability statistics from
four
different surveys: CPS, Survey of Income and Program Participation
(SIPP), the decennial census, and the American Community Survey (ACS). The
Bureau notes that “depending on your needs, one survey may be more suitable
than another.” In terms of the disability questions asked, the sources
range from limited (decennial census and ACS) to most expansive (SIPP).
Most importantly, the CPS focuses on work disability – a pivotal measure for
disability-specific worklife expectancy computations necessary in forensic
settings.
In March of each year beginning in 1981, the CPS has been expanded to collect more information on income and
employment. This supplement forms the basis for the rates of participation and employment used in the
worklife expectancy tables through expanded questions that specifically address work
disability.
The contention that the CPS was not intended to identify work disability is clearly wrong.
The Census Bureau began publishing data from the March Supplement
in 1983 in a publication entitled Labor
Force Status and Other Characteristics of Persons with a Work Disability:
1982. The beginning of the publication addresses the issue of measuring the
experiences of persons with disability:
One of the issues that this country has tried to address through the Federal
statistical system is the extent to which persons with a disability are
able to participate in the labor force. Programs and policies have been established to discourage
discrimination and encourage training and rehabilitation, but the success
of these programs and policies cannot be measured without some type of
statistical monitoring system. Statistics on persons with a disability are
obtained from two sources: program statistics and household surveys. While
the former source is critical for certain purposes, the basic unit in a
statistical monitoring system must be household surveys.
Only through household surveys is it possible to obtain estimates
of the number of persons with a disability and learn how their situation
changes over time.
Recent changes to the questionnaire used in the March Income Supplement to the
Current Population Survey (CPS) make it possible for the March CPS to be
used as a source of information on the labor force status and other
characteristics of noninstitutional persons with a work disability.
In the 1989 publication Labor Force
Status and Other Characteristics of Persons With a Work Disability: 1981
to 1988, Census expands on the reasoning behind these questions:
According
to Saad Nagi, a major figure in the development of survey data on persons
with disabilities, a person has a disability if he or she has a limitation
in the ability to perform one or more of the life activities expected of
an individual within a social environment. The primary way this basic
concept is operationalized in the March CPS is to ask whether any
household member has a health problem or disability which prevents them
from working or which limits the kind or amount of work they can do.
Various independent researchers use CPS data in research on the employment experiences of persons with a work
disability. In a presentation before the National Association of Forensic Economics (NAFE) in November
2000, John McNeil, a special assistant for disability statistics for the
U.S. Census Bureau, now retired, reaffirmed the application of CPS data for the study of persons with a work
disability. As part of the
presentation, he produced a study entitled “Employment and Earnings of
Individuals 18 to 64 by Disability Status:
Data from the March 2000 Current Population Survey.”
The study explores the participation and employment rates for
persons with work disability using the same data used in The New
Worklife Expectancy Tables. In addition, he signed an
affidavit
stating he sees no reason why the CPS data for work disability cannot be
used in the manner applied by Vocational Econometrics. He also
authored an article
further supporting use of CPS data for studying worklife issues for people
with a work disability.Herman Miller functioned as the chief of the Population Division of the Census Bureau. He has also signed
an affidavit noting
that the CPS data are "the most appropriate source for studying the
employment experiences of people with a work disability."
Private researchers also use CPS data to study employment patterns of the U.S. population. This includes
work funded by the Department of Education, National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and conducted by researchers at
Cornell
University. The have published multiple papers using the March
CPS studying the effects of work disability on earnings and employment.
More information on the use of the CPS by other researchers can be found on the CPS Use by
Other Researchers page on this website.The extensive use of the CPS data for
research on employment issues and the similar findings from other
disability data provides corroborative evidence of the
validity of the CPS data. Independent researchers from various
institutions and with various purposes would not all use the CPS data
unless the data were meaningful.
In addition, research using
data other than the CPS shows similar impacts in earnings
and employment for those with a disability.
Pflaum, et al. (2003)
for example, found a drop in the probability of employment using data
pertaining to individuals with a spinal cord injury.
McCollister and Pflaum
(2004) discussed use of the National Health Interview Survey for
studying the effects of disability on employment and offered specific
examples for those with back pain. Discussion of other research can be
found on the Broad Support page.
|
