Analysis of Wage and Total Compensation Gaps by Disability Measure

About this Project

Analysis of Wage and Total
Compensation Gaps by Disability Measure

In this study, several comprehensive national demographic surveys are linked by occupation to rich occupation-level data on benefits to construct a careful measure of total compensation. These are used to explore the pay gaps between workers with disabilities and their non-disabled peers. Considerable heterogeneity is found in these estimated gaps by measures of pay, definition of disability and data source used.

Findings

Research Brief

While the disparity in wage and salary income between workers with and without disabilities is well documented in the literature, less is known about the gap in total compensation. Health insurance, mandated benefits, and days of leave for vacation or illness are examples of the additional forms of compensation that comprise roughly 30 percent of total hourly compensation costs by firms for workers.

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Research Brief

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