 Workers with disabilities are paid about 10% less than other workers in similar jobs, and 8% less in total compensation, including wages, health insurance and vacation time, according to a new Cornell University study. "So you might imagine someone taking a job for $40,000 with health insurance or a job for $60,000 without health insurance," Kevin Hallock, director of the Institute for Compensation Studies at Cornell, said during a presentation at a conference on disability employment Wednesday in Arlington, Va. Workers with disabilities also are overrepresented in manual labor jobs and underrepresented in white-collar fields. The study found transportation, production, and office and administrative support were among the top occupations where people with disabilities were employed. Skilled jobs, including management, business and finance occupations, employed the lowest number of people with disabilities. The Cornell research has some limitations: Only full-time male workers were surveyed to determine wage gaps because researchers wanted to isolate a similar group of individuals without introducing other variables such as gender. Adriana Kugler, former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor, said at a panel discussion during the conference, "It is very,... |
