Data Sources

Data and Content Available on StateData.info by Data Source
Data Source	State ID/DD Agency Survey	Rehabilitation Services Administration	Social Security Administration	State Demographic Date	Wagner Peyser	Workforce Investment Act	American Community Survey	State Mental Health Agency Data
Years of data available	1988, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2004	1991, 1993, 1995, 1997-2007	1990-2006	1990-2005	2002-2005	2000-2006	2000-2006	2002-2006
Level of data	State	State, Individual	State	State	State	State, Individual	State	State
Population included in the available data	Recipients of ID/DD Agency Services	Vocational Rehabilitation Case Closures	SSI recipients with disabilities, OASDI workers with disabilities	Working age population in United States	Job seekers who registered at One-Stop centers	Adults and dislocated workers served by One-Stop Centers	Working age population in United States with and without Disabilities	Adult mental health consumers served in the community
Employment
Earnings			*
Program Placement Setting					*
Program funding, costs, and spending			*		*	*
Program Outcomes					*
Program Use/Enrollment
* Not posted on Statedata.info, available upon request.

1) State ID/DD Agencies

Data Source: The ICI National Survey of Day and Employment Services for People with Developmental Disabilities. This survey collects summary data on day and employment service distribution and funding at the state level every two years.

Service Definitions

Type of Service/Setting	Work	Non-Work
Community	Integrated employment: A job in the community where most people do not have disabilities. Includes competitive employment, individual supported employment, and group supported employment including enclaves and mobile work crews.	Community-based non-work: A program where individuals engage in recreational, skill training, or volunteer activities in settings where most people do not have disabilities. Typically includes community integration and community participation services.
Facility	Facility-based work: Employment in a facility where most people have disabilities, with continuous job-related supports and supervision. Includes sheltered employment.	Facility-based non-work: A program whose primary focus is skill training, activities of daily living, recreation, and/or professional therapies in a facility where most people have disabilities. Typically includes day activity and day habilitation services.

2) Rehabilitation Services Administration

Data Source: Rehabilitation Services Administration 911 database. RSA-911 is a public access database that captures individual characteristics, services provided, and employment outcomes at the point of closure from vocational rehabilitation (VR) services. Records are at the individual level and cover approximately 600,000 case closures per year.

Service Definitions

Closure. RSA-911 data are collected at the time of closure (termination) of VR services. The VR closure categories used in this report include:

Status 08: An individual was found to be not eligible for services
Status 28: Unsuccessful, case closed after developing Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE)
Status 30: Unsuccessful, case closed before developing an IPE
Status 26: Successful rehabilitation

Status 26 includes competitive employment (including supported employment), extended (sheltered) employment, self-employment, state agency managed business enterprise, homemaker, and unpaid family worker.

Rehabilitation Rate: The percent of individuals receiving services who achieve a successful rehabilitation. Calculated as: Successful rehabilitations (status 26)/successful rehabilitations + unsuccessful rehabilitations (after an IPE was developed) (status 26 + status 28)

Supported employment services: Individuals identified as receiving supported employment as a rehabilitation service. Supported employment may be funded from Title VIc funds, funds dedicated to supported employment under the Rehabilitation Act, or general rehabilitation funds. service. Supported employment may be funded from Title VIc funds, funds dedicated to supported employment under the Rehabilitation Act, or general rehabilitation funds.

3) Social Security Administration

Data Source: Social Security Administration (SSA). These data are abstracted from SSA reports on the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program and the use of work incentives. SSA reports the number of individuals on SSI who are working.

Service Definitions for the Work Incentive Program

Plan for Achieving Self Support (PASS). A PASS allows a disabled or blind individual to set aside income or resources to get a specific type of job or start a business. The income and resources that are set aside are excluded under the SSI income and resources tests.

Impairment Related Work Expense (IRWE). An IRWE allows people to exclude the cost of certain impairment-related services or items needed to earn income when determining the beneficiary's earned income for SSI eligibility and benefits.

4) State Demographics

State population is taken from the Census web site.
Unemployment data is taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics web site.
Earnings data is taken from the Bureau of Economic Analysis's web site.

5) Department of Labor

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) funds a wide variety of employment and training programs. This website examines data for two of the major DOL funding sources: Wagner-Peyser, and WIA/JTPA. These are primary sources of funding for the infrastructure of the One-Stop Career Center system in all 50 states.

Wagner-Peyser – Wagner-Peyser data provide a significant source of data regarding the performance of the One-Stop Career Center system, since One-Stop partners are encouraged to register everyone they serve in the Labor Exchange Services funded by Wagner-Peyser. Therefore, the labor exchange performance measures “reflect the success of Wagner-Peyser employment services as well as the One-Stop system.” (USDOL ETA Training and Employment Guidance Letter No. 9-02, October 4, 2002). These data should be interpreted as a reflection but not an absolute measure of One-Stop performance, as there are variations from state-to-state in the One-Stop/Wagner-Peyser integration and registration. Data for the Wagner-Peyser Act come from the publicly available data files on the US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration website. Citation for Wagner-Peyser: Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Services - http://www.doleta.gov/Performance/results/wagner-peyser_act.cfm

Workforce Investment Act (WIA) – The WIA data are from two WIA funding streams – Adult and Dislocated Workers. These data represent a subset of individuals served by the One-Stop system, who are eligible for services under these funding streams, and receive services beyond self-service or informational activities. Data for the Workforce Investment Act, comes from the Workforce Investment Act Standardized Record Data (WIASRD) file. Citation for WIASRD file: Social Policy Research Associates. (2002). PY 2001 WIASRD data file. Social Policy Research Associates: Oakland, CA

NOTE: The data from DOL generally relies on self-disclosure of disability. These data may not fully reflect the use of these funding streams by people with disabilities, due to individuals with non-apparent disabilities who have used the services, but have declined to identify that they have a disability.

6) American Community Survey (ACS)

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide survey designed by the U.S. Census Bureau to provide communities with a fresh look at how they are changing. It is a critical element in the reengineered 2010 census plan. The ACS collects information from all 50 states and D.C. on topics such as disability, age, race, income, commute time to work, home value, veteran status, and other important data. As with the official decennial census, information about individuals is confidential. (Source: www.census.gov.)

Group Definitions

Sensory Disability - People who report any of the following long-lasting conditions: blindness, deafness, or severe vision or hearing impairment.

Physical Disability - People who report a long-lasting condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting, or carrying.

Mental Disability - People who, because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition lasting six months or more, have difficulty learning, remembering, and concentrating.

Any Disability - People included in this group are those who report at least one of the following six disabilities listed on the ACS: Sensory disability; physical disability; mental disability; employment disability; self-care disability; go outside the home disability.

No Disability - People included in this group are those who do not report any of the following six disabilities listed on the ACS: Sensory disability; physical disability; mental disability; employment disability; self-care disability; go outside the home disability.

Data Elements

Number of People - Total number of non-institutionalized persons in group age 16-64.

Number of People Employed - Total number of employed, non-institutionalized persons in group age 16-64.

Percentage of Working-Age People Who Are Employed - Ratio of employed persons relative to the sum of employed persons, persons who are unemployed, and persons who are not in the labor force (non-institutionalized persons age 16-64 who are not working and have not actively looked for work in the past four weeks).

Weekly Wages - Average weekly income earned from salary or wages for employed persons in group.

Weekly Hours Worked - Average weekly hours worked for employed persons in group.

Number Employed per 100k - Number of employed people per 100,000 people in the general working population (age 16-64).

Note: The sample size for the ACS increased considerably between 2004 and 2005. The greater sample sizes in the 2005 ACS will allow users to detect many more statistically significant differences than was possible with the 2004 ACS sample size. It is important that users not interpret this increase in the number of statistically significant differences as an increase in the number of real or substantive changes occurring between 2004 and 2005 compared to previous pairs of sequential years. The survey’s increased precision will allow the survey to detect changes that might have been occurring previously that with the smaller sample sizes in earlier years could not be recognized as statistically significant. We advise users to be cautious about concluding that all significant differences represent meaningful differences. We recommend using multiple years of data to understand whether trends are emerging. (Source: www.census.gov.)

7) State Mental Health Agency Data

In response to the need for accountability for the expenditure of community mental health block grant funds received by States from the Federal Government, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), Division of State and Community Systems Development (DSCSD), and State mental health agencies (SMHA) and their national organizations the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) and the NASMHPD Research Institute, Inc. (NRI), have worked together since 1997 in an effort to ensure the uniform reporting of State-level data to describe the public mental health system and the outcomes of its programs. In order to satisfy the requirement for uniformity of data definitions, the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) Uniform Reporting System (URS) was developed.

The intent of the URS tables is to allow both (1) the tracking of individual State performance over time, and (2) the aggregation of State information to develop a national picture of the public mental health systems of the States.

Data elements from URS tables available on www.statedata.info include:

Number of Mental Health Services Consumers who are employed.
Number of Mental Health Services Consumers who are part of the Labor Force. Persons in the labor force are either employed or unemployed and looking for work.
Number of Adults Served who have a Known Employment Status. This is a subset of all consumers who receive State Mental Health Agency services.
Percentage of all State Mental Health Agency consumers served in the community who are employed.