Disability and earnings: Are employer characteristics important?

Abstract

We use matched employee-employer data from Britain to assess the influence of disabilityspecific workplace policies and practices on the earnings of disabled workers. The presence of equal opportunities policies increases the relative wages of disabled workers, but this is partially offset by the negative influence of workplace accommodations.JEL Classification: J30, J14

Are high‐performance work practices (HPWPs) enabling or disabling? Exploring the relationship between selected HPWPs and work‐related disability disadvantage

“…This suggests that the quality of HPWP implementation may be substantively different (in that HPWPs are implemented in a more sensitive manner that mitigates potential disabling effects) where the broader workplace context emphasizes social justice and equality (Stone & Colella , p. 375). This supports previous research highlighting the importance of disability equality practices in improving outcomes for disabled employees (Forth & Rincon‐Aznar, ; Jones & Latreille, ; Schur et al, , ). In arguing this point, however, it is important to remember that very few workplaces have adopted a wide range of disability equality practices (only 10.2% in WERS based on the classification used in our analysis).…”

“…A growing literature identifies empirically the importance of such practices for disability gaps in work‐related outcomes (Colella & Bruyère, , p. 494; Lengnick‐Hall, ). For example, Forth and Rincon‐Aznar () report a positive association between equal opportunities (EO) policies and disabled employees' perceptions of fair treatment by management, while Jones and Latreille () report a positive association between EO policies and disabled employees' relative wages.…”

Disability, structural inequality, and work: The influence of occupational segregation on earnings for people with different disabilities

“…In terms of aggregate trends, employment in part-time and non-standard work grew for people with disabilities in the 1990s, which was likely a combination of worker and employer choices (Hotchkiss, 2004;Jones, 2008;Schur, 2002Schur, , 2003Tolin & Patwell, 2003;Yelin, 1997). Consequently, when looking at employment and earnings disparities across groups, researchers must account for these job choice and productivity differences, but they also need to extend their analyses to include alternative explanations that address demand-side factors (Blanck et al, 2007;Blanck et al, 2003;Jones, 2008;Jones & Latreille, 2010).…”

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

“…A third potential explanation for the lower average pay of employees with disabilities is that it reflects a compensating wage differential for a desirable job characteristic, such as flexibility. This may be a factor in the lower pay among workers who received workplace accommodations as found in Canadian and UK studies (Gunderson and Hyatt ; Jones and Latreille ). This is unlikely to fully explain the pay gaps since employees with disabilities tend to express lower job satisfaction (Burke ; Jones ; Jones et al .…”