Analysis

Two metrics to consider for successfully closed VR consumers are 1) weekly wages and the 2) average weekly work hours. This data analysis looks at the the weekly wages for VR consumers across the country and then looks specifically at the transition age youth population. The data used for this analysis comes from the Rehabilitative Service Administration's (RSA) Case Service Report dataset, also known as RSA-911, from the years 2008 to 2014.

Transition age youth (ages 14-24) are primarily employed across three major occupation types:

1. Food Preparation and Serving-related occupations
2. Office and Administrative Support
3. Sales and related occupations

In 2012, nearly 20% of 15 year-olds were employed in Food Preparation and Serving-related occupations. While this rate declines slightly as youth age, restaurants remain the most popular industry for teens and young adults ages 14-24.

Common VR consumer occupations vary across blind, general, and combined Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies. Consumers from all agency types are most often placed in Office and Administrative Support Occupations, such as administrative assistant and bank teller positions. However, agencies for the blind placed the second highest number of consumers in Sales and Related Occupations, whereas Food Preparation and Serving-related Occupations ranked second for both general and combined agencies, and fifth for agencies for the blind.

What are the most common jobs for VR Consumers across the U.S.? In each year from 2008-2014, VR agencies placed the most consumers in Office and Administrative Support occupations, which includes jobs like Bookkeepers, Customer Service Representatives, Dispatchers, Mail Carriers, and Administrative Assistants.

The top five most common occupations for VR consumers from 2008-2014 are:

Men tend to enter the workforce at younger ages in military type occupations, whereas women start working earlier in construction and ‘Installation, Maintenance, and Repair’ occupations. What are some possible explanations for these age differences between men and women in different occupations?

This data analysis compares average weekly wages across states for the same occupations. For example, in 2014, VR consumers working in Protective Service occupations in Alaska made an average weekly wage of $790.00, whereas the average weekly wage in Ohio was $320.00 for this occupation. However, VR consumers working in Education occupations in Ohio made an average weekly wage of $669.30, while consumers in Alaska made $462.00 a week on average.

The amount of money states spend on VR services varies from year-to-year and state-to-state. For example, in 2008 Louisiana's combined agency spent $1.3K, while Georgia's combined agency spent $1.9K. In 2013, Louisiana spent less on VR ($0.8K), while Georgia’s spending remained the same.

Personal assistance services include a range of services provided by the VR system to assist an individual with a disability attend college. VR funds may be used towards a student's tuition. In some cases, VR can also provide funds for student housing, food, and/or transportation. VR may also aid in paying for assistive devices and services, such as braillers, computer technology, personal readers, and interpreters. The specific services that VR can fund differs from state to state.

The amount of money the U.S. spends on VR services varies from year-to-year. The number of consumers VR serves also varies each year. There are 80 VR agencies across the country. In 2009, each VR agency spent $22,751,427 and served 17,071 consumers on average, spending about $1,333 per consumer. In 2013, although VR agencies served only 373 more clients on average, each VR agency spent an average of $25,731,115, or $1,475 per consumer.

Annual Spending on Personal Assistance Services

Description: This figure presents the national average of the dollar amount that a  VR agency spent on personal assistance services from the years 2008-2013. The graph also shows the national average of the total dollar amount a VR agency spent in a given year.