Hotchkiss, Julie L. 2004. "A Closer Look at the Employment Impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act." Journal of Human Resources 39(4): 887-911.

This paper replicates recent findings that employment among disabled people has declined since the ADA. A closer look indicates that this decline results from a drop in the labor force participation rate among those classified as disabled. Further analysis indicates that this labor force participation rate decline, however, was not the result of disabled individuals fleeing the labor market, but, rather, more likely a result of the reclassification of nondisabled, nonparticipants, as disabled. The unconditional employment probability among disabled people (taking selection into the labor market into account) has not declined, and may have actually improved for certain disability classifications.

Julie Hotchkiss is an associate professor of economics at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University; and Associate Policy Advisor, The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Support from the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research is gratefully acknowledged. Useful comments and suggestions were much appreciated from David Autor, Christopher Bollinger, Richard Burkhauser, Thomas DeLeire, Robert Haveman, Kevin Hollenbeck, Allan Hunt, Bruce E. Kaufman, Douglas Kruse, M. Melinda Pitts, Robert E. Moore, Ben Scafidi, Stephen Woodbury, and participants of seminars held at Georgia State University; the University of Virginia; the Bureau of Labor Statistics; and the W. E. Upjohn Institute. Jack McNeil and Vic Valdisera of the Census Bureau, Bob McIntire of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Barry Hirsh, David Macpherson, Robert Margo, and Walter Oi, were also instrumental in the completion of this project. In addition, the research assistance and contributions of Ludmila Rovba are without measure. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta or the Federal Reserve System. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning May 2005 through April 2008 from Julie Hotchkiss, Georgia State University, jhotchkiss@gsu.edu.