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Employer Perspectives Toward Hiring and Retaining Individuals with Disabilities: A National Survey of Entry-Level Employers.

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Title: Employer Perspectives Toward Hiring and Retaining Individuals with Disabilities: A National Survey of Entry-Level Employers.
Authors: Reardon, Kyle1 kreardon@uoregon.edu, Unruh, Deanne K1, Rowe, Dawn A2
Source: Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation. May2025, Vol. 62 Issue 3, p310-324. 15p.
Subject Terms: *Attitudes toward disabilities, *Employment of people with disabilities, *Research, *Employee selection, *COVID-19 pandemic, Employee retention, Scale analysis (Psychology), Executives, T-test (Statistics), Chi-squared test, Descriptive statistics, Labor market, Data analysis software, Industrial relations, Time
Geographic Terms: United States
Abstract: Background: Finding and maintaining employment is a critical need for individuals with disabilities (IWD) and employers' attitudes toward IWD is a factor in employment rates. Objective: The study purpose was to better understand perspectives of employers toward hiring and retaining IWD and to compare findings pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The researchers developed a survey comprised of questions targeting the hiring practices of employers toward IWD. The survey contained three sections (i.e., demographics, business practices, and skill assessment) and was deployed in two separate waves (i.e., pre-pandemic [survey 1] and post-pandemic [survey 2]). Results: Employers reported that since the pandemic they have seen an increase in hiring difficulty and while employment of IWD is lower, employers have significantly higher rates of recent hiring and active recruitment of IWD. Mentoring, training, and flexible work schedules were strategies noted by employers as useful in hiring, retaining, and advancing IWD, and employers noted that "basic skills" were generally considered most important. Finally, employers facing labor shortages were more likely to hire or be willing to hire IWD. Conclusion: Findings indicate that while IWD face multiple employment barriers the post-pandemic labor shortages seem to have created expanded employment opportunities and trends indicate an increased willingness of employers to hire and support IWD in varied settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Employer Perspectives Toward Hiring and Retaining Individuals with Disabilities: A National Survey of Entry-Level Employers.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Vocational+Rehabilitation%22">Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation</searchLink>. May2025, Vol. 62 Issue 3, p310-324. 15p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Attitudes+toward+disabilities%22">Attitudes toward disabilities</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Employment+of+people+with+disabilities%22">Employment of people with disabilities</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Research%22">Research</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Employee+selection%22">Employee selection</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22COVID-19+pandemic%22">COVID-19 pandemic</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Employee+retention%22">Employee retention</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Scale+analysis+%28Psychology%29%22">Scale analysis (Psychology)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Executives%22">Executives</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22T-test+%28Statistics%29%22">T-test (Statistics)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Chi-squared+test%22">Chi-squared test</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Descriptive+statistics%22">Descriptive statistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Labor+market%22">Labor market</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Data+analysis+software%22">Data analysis software</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Industrial+relations%22">Industrial relations</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Time%22">Time</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22United+States%22">United States</searchLink>
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  Data: Background: Finding and maintaining employment is a critical need for individuals with disabilities (IWD) and employers' attitudes toward IWD is a factor in employment rates. Objective: The study purpose was to better understand perspectives of employers toward hiring and retaining IWD and to compare findings pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The researchers developed a survey comprised of questions targeting the hiring practices of employers toward IWD. The survey contained three sections (i.e., demographics, business practices, and skill assessment) and was deployed in two separate waves (i.e., pre-pandemic [survey 1] and post-pandemic [survey 2]). Results: Employers reported that since the pandemic they have seen an increase in hiring difficulty and while employment of IWD is lower, employers have significantly higher rates of recent hiring and active recruitment of IWD. Mentoring, training, and flexible work schedules were strategies noted by employers as useful in hiring, retaining, and advancing IWD, and employers noted that "basic skills" were generally considered most important. Finally, employers facing labor shortages were more likely to hire or be willing to hire IWD. Conclusion: Findings indicate that while IWD face multiple employment barriers the post-pandemic labor shortages seem to have created expanded employment opportunities and trends indicate an increased willingness of employers to hire and support IWD in varied settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=185001802
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        Value: 10.1177/10522263251326524
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 15
        StartPage: 310
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Attitudes toward disabilities
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Employment of people with disabilities
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Research
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Employee selection
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: COVID-19 pandemic
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Employee retention
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Scale analysis (Psychology)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Executives
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: T-test (Statistics)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Chi-squared test
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Descriptive statistics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Labor market
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Data analysis software
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      – SubjectFull: Industrial relations
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Time
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      – SubjectFull: United States
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Employer Perspectives Toward Hiring and Retaining Individuals with Disabilities: A National Survey of Entry-Level Employers.
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            NameFull: Reardon, Kyle
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            NameFull: Unruh, Deanne K
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              M: 05
              Text: May2025
              Type: published
              Y: 2025
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