ERIC Number: ED524431
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 55
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: ISBN-978-1-9219-5534-1
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
To Gain, Retain and Retrain: The Role of Post-School Education for People with a Disability. Research Report
Polidano, Cain; Vu, Ha
National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER)
This study extends previous work of Cain Polidano and Kostas Mavromaras (2010) which showed that vocational education and training (VET) qualifications had a positive effect on the chances of finding work for people with a disability. It teases out this earlier result by looking at whether, for those who already have a disability, completing a VET qualification improves conditions of employment--wage rates, the probability of being in full-time employment, job satisfaction--and benefits of employment, including household income and welfare dependence in comparison to those with no post-school qualification. Higher education qualifications are not considered because they are rarer for people with a disability to attain. Polidano and Vu extend their thinking about the relationship between education, disability and labour market outcomes, by also considering what happens in situations in which the disability occurs after an individual is in the labour market. Their focus is the extent to which VET and higher education qualifications may reduce the disruptive effects of disability onset. One of the difficulties in undertaking this analysis is that an individual's qualifications impact on choice of occupation and people in some occupations are more likely to be affected by a disability than in others--perhaps because of the level of physical requirements inherent in different jobs. (This study reports that physical disabilities are the most common type of disability irrespective of qualification level). In this respect, Polidano and Vu find that rates of employment in the first year of disability onset decline by nine percentage points for those with no post-school qualification and 11 percentage points for those with a VET qualification compared to only five percentage points for those with a higher education qualification. One would suggest this says more about the occupation than the possession of a qualification as such. A new finding is that, for people with disability who are out of work or in a part-time job, completing a VET qualification significantly improves the chances of getting a "full-time" job, compared to those with no post-school qualifications. With this comes greater financial independence. Appendices include: (1) Results from the probit matching models; (2) Balancing test results; (3) Results using nearest neighbour matching; (4) Duration of disability; and (5) Technical discussion. (Contains 18 tables, 1 figure and 17 footnotes.)
Descriptors: Wages, Part Time Employment, Job Satisfaction, Labor Market, Vocational Education, Disabilities, Postsecondary Education, Employment Qualifications, Job Skills, Probability, Income, Welfare Services, Comparative Analysis, Employment Level, Foreign Countries
National Centre for Vocational Education Research Ltd. P.O. Box 8288, Stational Arcade, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia. Tel: +61-8-230-8400; Fax: +61-8-212-3436; e-mail: ncver@ncver.edu.au; Web site: http://www.ncver.edu.au
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
Authoring Institution: National Centre for Vocational Education Research
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A