Carrie Lou Garberoglio, Jeffrey Levi Palmer,
Stephanie Cawthon, and Adam Sales
NDC
National Deaf Center
on Postsecondary Outcomes
DEAF PEOPLE AND EMPLOYMENT
IN THE UNITED STATES: 2019
This report was developed under a jointly funded grant through the US Department of Education’s Ofce of Special
Education Programs (OSEP) and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), #HD326D160001. However, the
contents do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the federal government.
©2019 National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes
Deaf People and Educational Attainment in the United States: 2019
Licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0
INTRODUCTION
Employment is one of many possible outcome
measures, but one that is typically used as an
indicator for the ability to live independently, attain
nancial stability, and maintain a quality of life
that is aligned with one’s goals. To meet national
employment goals, federal initiatives, policies, and
funding drive employment training, placement,
and rehabilitation programs across the country.
Despite positive postsecondary enrollment trends
and improvements in legal policies surrounding
access for deaf people, particularly through the
Americans with Disabilities Act, employment
gaps between deaf and hearing people continue
to be signicant. Employment experiences for
deaf people are also qualitatively different than
for hearing people in the United States in terms
of earnings, part-time or full-time employment,
opportunities for advancement over time, and the
likelihood of being self-employed.
This updated report provides a comprehensive
overview of the most current data on employment
trends and trajectories for deaf people in the
United States, serving as a resource for commu-
nity members, advocates, educators, researchers,
and policy makers. Data from the 2017 American
Community Survey (ACS), a national survey con-
ducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, was used in
this report. Data from 2017 reects current trends,
while 2008-2017 data was used to explore how
employment trends have changed over time.
We limited our sample to people aged 25 to 64
years old, or what is typically considered the
“working age” population. People who identied
as having any type of hearing loss were included
in these analyses. Further information about
this dataset and the analyses are shared in the
Methods section of this report.
Key ndings:
• 53% of deaf people were employed in 2017.
• Deaf people are actively looking for work to a
greater extent than hearing people.
• A large percentage of deaf people are not in the
labor force.
• Deaf people who are employed full time report
median earnings that are comparable to hearing
people.
• Employment rates for deaf people have not
increased from 2008 to 2017.
• Educational attainment appears to narrow
employment gaps.
• Deafdisabled people are most likely
to experience pay inequality and
underemployment.
In this report, the term deaf is used in an all-inclusive manner, to include people who may identify as deaf,
deafblind, deafdisabled, hard of hearing, late-deafened, and hearing impaired. NDC recognizes that for
many people, identity is uid and can change over time or with setting. NDC has chosen to use one term,
deaf, with the goal of recognizing experiences that are shared by people from diverse deaf communities
while also honoring their differences.
3
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
It is necessary to recognize the many
intersecting identities of deaf people when
thinking about employment experiences and
outcomes.
GENERAL EMPLOYMENT DATA
The employment gap between deaf and hearing
people in the United States is a signicant area of
concern. In 2017, only 53.3% of deaf people were
employed, compared to 75.8% of hearing people.
This is an employment gap of 22.5%.
A common assumption is that if 53.3% of
deaf people are employed, 46.7% of deaf people
are unemployed. This is incorrect. The federal
government describes people without a job as
people who are unemployed or not in the labor
force. People who reported being currently,
or recently, looking for work, are counted as
unemployed. People who are not currently
employed, and are not looking for work, are
counted as not in the labor force. This latter
group may include students, parents, caretakers,
or retired people, for example.
Deaf and hearing people have unemployment
rates of 3.8% and 3.4%, respectively. This
difference, while small, is statistically signicant.
This suggests that deaf people are more likely to
be actively looking for work than hearing people.
The largest disparity between deaf and hearing
people, however, is that of labor force involve-
ment. A large number of deaf people (42.9%)
were not in the labor force, compared to 20.8%
of hearing people (Figure 1). We will talk about
this group in more detail later on in this report.
4
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
Figure 1
RATES OF UNEMPLOYMENT, EMPLOYMENT, AND NOT IN THE LABOR FORCE
3.8%
UNEMPLOYED
53.3%
EMPLOYED
42.9%
NOT IN LABOR
FORCE
DEAF
PEOPLE
20.8%
NOT IN LABOR
FORCE
75.8%
EMPLOYED
3.4%
UNEMPLOYED
HEARING
PEOPLE
From 2008 to 2017, employment rates have
increased by a small, yet signicant, amount
for hearing people, but did not increase for
deaf people (Figure 2). The gure shows
employment declines from 2008 to 2010.
These declines may be inuenced by the
economic recession in the United States
occurring at that time. Greater growth in
employment rates for deaf people is needed
in order to narrow the employment gap
between deaf and hearing people, and this
is not happening yet.
5
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
Figure 2
EMPLOYMENT RATES FROM 2008 TO 2017
DEAF
PEOPLE
HEARING
PEOPLE
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
76.6%
55.9%
73.6%
52.7%
72.3%
49.5%
72.4%
49.4%
73%
50.2%
73.4%
50.9%
74.1%
51%
74.6%
51.7%
75.2%
51.9%
75.8%
53.3%
When considering work status, deaf people are
more likely to work part-time than their hearing
counterparts (Figure 3).
Among people who are employed, a higher
percentage of deaf people than hearing people
are self-employed (11.6% vs. 9.8%) or business
owners (4.1% vs. 3.8%). The higher incidence of
self-employment and business ownership may
be an effective strategy to bypass challenges
and biases in the workplace that deaf people are
deeply familiar with.
If deaf people work full-time, they report similar
median annual earnings as their hearing peers,
$50,000 and $49,900, respectively. Half the
population earn more than the median, and
half earn less. However, employment rates
and median annual earnings vary widely within
deaf communities, just as it does in the hearing
population. We will be discussing this in more
detail throughout this report.
6
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
Figure 3
WORK STATUS
77.4%73.4%
HEARING
PEOPLE
DEAF
PEOPLE
26.6% VS. 22.6%
FULL-TIME FULL-TIME
PART-TIME
DEAF
PEOPLE
$50,000
11.6%
DEAF PEOPLE ARE
SELF-EMPLOYED
4.1%
DEAF PEOPLE
OWN BUSINESSES
HEARING
PEOPLE
$49,900
9.8%
HEARING PEOPLE ARE
SELF-EMPLOYED
3.8%
HEARING PEOPLE
OWN BUSINESSES
7
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
Close to half (42.9%) of deaf people between
the ages of 25 and 64 are not working or looking
for work. However, not all deaf people participate
in the labor force at similar rates. People
experience different opportunities and barriers
that are related to their intersecting identities,
and that becomes visible when looking at labor
force participation rates across race, gender,
and ethnicity (Figure 4, next page). For example,
61.1% of deaf men versus 50.5% of deaf women
are in the labor force, a statistically signicant
difference. Also, only 44.8% of deaf African
Americans and 43.6% of deaf Native Americans
are in the labor force, compared to 59% of
deaf Whites. Average labor force participation
rates drop by 12.3% for African Americans,
13.5% for Native Americans, and 18.1% for
deafdisabled people.
By far the largest difference between those
deaf people who are and are not in the labor
force is the presence of additional disabilities.
Overall, 75.5% of deaf people without an additional
disability were in the labor force, while only 39%
of deafdisabled people were in the labor force, a
statistically signicant difference.
An understanding of how labor force participation
rates vary within the population of deaf people
can help researchers, policy makers, and
educators design policies and practices that
take those differences into account. Ultimately,
further research is needed to understand why
large numbers of deaf people have opted out of
the labor force.
LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
57.1%
Overall Deaf people
in the labor force
44.8%
Deaf African
Americans in
the labor force
39%
Deafdisabled
people in the
labor force
43.6%
Deaf Native
Americans in
the labor force
8
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
MEN
49.5%
38.9%
61%
34.5%
41%
55.2%
48.7%
56.4%
31.6%
29.1%
43.5%
51.7%
33.8%
20.4%
22.9%
20.2%
18.7%
14.5%
26.8%
WOMEN
DEAFDISABLED
DISABLED
IS A PARENT
WHITE
AFRICAN-AMERICAN
MULTI-RACIAL
NATIVE AMERICAN
VETERAN WITH A SERVICE-RELATED DISABILITY
BETWEEN 55 AND 64 YEARS OLD
Figure 4
PEOPLE NOT IN THE LABOR FORCE
58.6%
DEAF
PEOPLE
HEARING
PEOPLE
9
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
The largest employment disparities were found
for deafdisabled people. In this dataset, 50% of
the deaf population had some sort of additional
disability, each combination of which results in
unique strengths and challenges. Employment
rates and median annual earnings vary across
type of disability.
Only 35% of deafdisabled people reported being
employed in 2017 compared to 71.9% of deaf
people without disabilities, an employment
gap of 36.9%. Among deaf people who worked in
2017, more deafdisabled people work part-time
than deaf people without additional disabilities
(33.4% vs. 23.2%).
Among the deafdisabled population, employment
rates differ greatly by disability type. Deafblind
people report the highest employment rates,
while deaf people that may need additional
support with independent living skills and self
care report the lowest employment rates.
Deaf people with any type of additional disability
earn $4,000 less per year, on average, than their
deaf peers without an additional disability
(Table 1). Some groups of deafdisabled people
experience far greater earning disparities, earning
as much as $10,000 less than deaf people without
additional disabilities. Recall that median annual
earnings were calculated only from people who
were working full-time. Thus, these data points
about earnings do not reect the number of
deafdisabled people who are not working full time.
In these analyses, we were limited to the
disability categories that are used by the U.S.
Census, which does not recognize group identity
preferences or differences within broad disability
categories. The U.S. Census focuses on functional
abilities, and does not attend to more complex
issues surrounding identity. This is a limitation
of this dataset. However, at a minimum, it is
necessary to recognize that deafdisabled people
are more likely to experience wage inequality and
underemployment.
Table 1
EMPLOYMENT RATES AND EARNINGS BY ADDITIONAL DISABILITY STATUS
ADDITIONAL DISABILITY STATUS MEDIAN SALARY EMPLOYMENT RATES
Deaf + no additional disabilities $50,000 71.9%
Deaf + ambulatory disability $44,000 23.7%
Deafblind $43,700 34.6%
Deaf + cognitive disability $42,000 27.2%
Deaf + independent living difculty $40,000 19.9%
Deaf + self care difculty $42,000 20.7%
EMPLOYMENT AMONG DEAFDISABLED PEOPLE
10
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
The intersections of race, ethnicity, and gender
are important factors to consider when thinking
about employment experiences and outcomes
for deaf people. In this report, the data for Pacic
Islanders, Native Americans, and people of other
races and multiple races are drawn from very
small samples, which may not be reective of real
population data. Data from these groups should
be interpreted cautiously (Figure 5, next page).
Overall, disparities between men and women
are similar in the deaf and hearing populations.
The employment gap between men and women
is 11.8% among hearing people and 10.6% among
deaf people. Gender gaps in employment are not
signicantly different between deaf and hearing
people. However, the wage gap is signicantly
larger for deaf women. Deaf women earn 77 cents
for each dollar that deaf men earn, while hearing
women earn 83 cents for each dollar that hearing
men earn (Figure 6, next page).
Race and ethnicity affects employment
opportunities and experiences for all people in
the United States, deaf or hearing. As in the
general population, deaf people who are white
or Asian report higher income and employment
rates. Lower employment rates are reported by
Native American and African American deaf and
hearing people.
When exploring the intersection of gender with
race and ethnicity, we see that income and
employment rates vary widely. For example, for
each dollar a white deaf person earns, a Latinx
deaf woman earns 64 cents and an Asian woman
earns 90 cents. In general, some of the lowest
income and employment rates are found among
Pacic Islanders and Native American deaf
women. For the most part, employment and
income trends are similar for hearing and deaf
people across race, ethnicity, and gender.
However, the gender gap in employment between
men and women seems to be narrower for deaf
people than for hearing people of these races
and ethnicities: Asians, Latinxs, whites, and
other races.
EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCES BY RACE, ETHNICITY, AND GENDER
(continued on page 11)
For each dollar a white deaf man earns …
an Asian deaf
man earns
an African
American deaf
man earns
an Asian
deaf woman
earns
a white
deaf woman
earns
a Latinx
deaf man
earns
an African
American
deaf woman
earns
a Native
American
deaf woman
earns
a Latinx
deaf woman
earns
90¢ 81¢
81¢
74¢
72¢ 63¢ 59¢ 58¢
11
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
MEN
MEN
MEN
MEN
MEN
MEN
MEN
MEN
MEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
OVERALL
WHITE
AFRICAN-AMERICAN
NATIVE AMERICAN
ASIAN
PACIFIC ISLANDER
HISPANIC / LATINX
MULTI-RACIAL
OTHER RACE
MEN
MEN
MEN
MEN
MEN
MEN
MEN
MEN
MEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
OVERALL
WHITE
AFRICAN-AMERICAN
NATIVE AMERICAN
ASIAN
PACIFIC ISLANDER
HISPANIC / LATINX
MULTI-RACIAL
OTHER RACE
Figure 5
EMPLOYMENT RATES
BY RACE, ETHNICITY, AND GENDER
Figure 6
MEDIAN EARNINGS
BY RACE, ETHNICITY, AND GENDER
53.3%75.8%
$50,000$49,900
81.9
57.3
55.8
59.3
49.5
38.7
39.3
55.7
43.1
52.7
45.1
48.8
74.4
75.1
75.2
73.7
76.3
62
40.2
36.9
46.3
59
51.8
60.1
19.1
59.1
43.2
49.8
39.7
51
45.6
28
72.1
70.5
64.8
59.5
85.8
68.1
80.1
67.6
85.2
65.1
79.8
70.7
82.7
67
71.2
71.7
75.8%
77.1
82.6
46.770.1
53.3% $50,000
$50,000
$40,000
$53,000
$40,000
$39,000$45,000
$50,000
$38,800 $40,000
$35,400
$50,000$41,000
$50,000 $44,617
$39,000
$60,000
$52,000
$40,000
$55,000
$41,000
$45,000
$52,000
$50,000
$38,200
$40,000
$32,100
$47,700
$30,500
$57,400
$25,100
$37,300
$45,000
$32,500
$35,000
$52,000
$60,000
$47,000
$40,000
$37,000
$42,000
$35,000
$70,000
$53,000
$45,000
$38,000
$32,000
$55,000
$44,200
$48,900
$40,000
$36,000
$43,000
$49,900
100 $70,0000 0
HEARING
PEOPLE
DEAF
PEOPLE
HEARING
PEOPLE
DEAF
PEOPLE
12
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
Employment experiences are closely tied to
people’s level of educational attainment.
Employment rates of deaf people increase as
their educational attainment increases, from
31.7% for those who did not complete a high
school education, to 74.4% for those with a
masters’ degree. This increase in employment
rates is also found in the general population.
However, the employment gap between hearing
and deaf people narrows as educational
attainment increases (Figure 7). The largest
employment gap between deaf and hearing
people is found in people who did not complete
high school education (26.3%), and the smallest
employment gap is found among people with a
master’s (12%) or a bachelor’s degree (12.8%).
For deaf people with college degrees, the eld
of those degrees plays a meaningful role in
their employment possibilities. Deaf people
with degrees in the following elds: computers,
mathematics, and statistics, liberal arts/history,
and the arts, had the highest employment rates,
of over 75%. The least-employed elds were
psychology and multidisciplinary studies, with
employment rates around 60%.
Hearing people with degrees in the sciences,
communications, and business, had the
highest employment rates, of over 85%. The
least-employed degrees include education,
literature/languages and the arts, with employ-
ment rates around 80%. As you might expect, the
most-employed and least-employed degrees are
not the same for deaf and hearing people.
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT AND EMPLOYMENT
Figure 7
EMPLOYMENT BY EDUCATION LEVEL
LESS THAN
HIGH SCHOOL
HIGH SCHOOL
DIPLOMA / GED
SOME
COLLEGE
ASSOCIATE’S
DEGREE
BACHELOR’S
DEGREE
MASTER’S
DEGREE
PH.D.,
J.D. OR M.D.
58%
70.2%
75.7%
80.1%
83.3%
86.4%
90.1%
31.7%
48.6%
56%
63.9%
70.5%
74.4%
72.4%
DEAF
PEOPLE
HEARING
PEOPLE
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
26.3% gap
21.6%
19.7%
16.2%
12.8%
12%
17.7%
(continued on page 13)
13
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
Median annual earnings vary widely, depending
on eld of degree and level of educational
attainment. Deaf people’s median annual
earnings increase as their educational attainment
increases, just as in the general population
(Figure 8). This may indicate that once deaf
people have obtained specialized degrees and full
time employment, they have the same earning
power as hearing people. Again, recall that these
data points exclude people who are not working
full time, or those who have left the labor force.
Earnings also vary by eld of degree. Deaf people
with degrees in STEM elds reported median
annual earnings between $75,000 and $93,500,
while deaf people with degrees in multidisciplinary
elds, art, education, psychology, literature and
languages reported median annual earnings
between $50,400 and $56,000.
Figure 8
MEDIAN ANNUAL EARNINGS BY EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
LESS THAN
HIGH SCHOOL
HIGH SCHOOL
DIPLOMA / GED
SOME
COLLEGE
ASSOCIATE’S
DEGREE
BACHELOR’S
DEGREE
MASTER’S
DEGREE
PH.D.,
J.D. OR M.D.
$33,000
40,000
47,400
50,000
63,000
$30,000
36,500
42,000
46,000
62,000
80,000
100,000
80,000
98,000
DEAF
PEOPLE
HEARING
PEOPLE
$100K
80
60
40
20
14
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
People in the United States work in a wide range of elds, and the most
common elds of work appear to be different for hearing and deaf people.
The most common occupational eld for hearing people is the medical industry,
with 13.8% of hearing people employed in this eld; while the least common
eld is in extraction, with 0.6% of hearing people employed in this eld. On the
other hand, for deaf people, the most common eld is manufacturing, with
15.7% of deaf people employed in this eld, and the least common eld is
extraction, with 1.0% of deaf people working in this eld (Figure 9, next page).
EMPLOYMENT RATES ACROSS OCCUPATIONAL FIELDS
HEARING
PEOPLE
DEAF
PEOPLE
Top 5 Occupations
1
2
3
4
5
REGISTERED
NURSES
ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE
SCHOOL TEACHERS
RETAIL
SUPERVISORS
RETAIL
SUPERVISORS
JANITORS AND
BUILDING CLEANERS
DELIVERY TRUCK
DRIVERS
MANAGERS
DELIVERY TRUCK
DRIVERS
MANAGERS
REGISTERED
NURSES
3.7% 3.8%
3.5% 2.5%
2.4% 2.4%
2.0% 2.4%
1.6% 2.3%
(continued on page 15)
15
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
Figure 9
EMPLOYMENT RATES ACROSS OCCUPATIONAL FIELDS
AGRICULTURE
ACCOMMODATIONS AND
FOOD SERVICES
CONSTRUCTION
EDUCATION
ENTERTAINMENT
EXTRACTION
(e.g. oil and gas)
FINANCE
GOVERNMENT, MILITARY,
ADMINISTRATION
INFORMATION SERVICES
MANUFACTURING
MEDICAL
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
RETAIL
SERVICE INDUSTRY
TRANSPORTATION
UTILITIES
WHOLESALE
1.1%
4.6%
0.6%
1.0%
7.8%
5.4%
6.5%
2.2%
1.6%
1.1%
1.6%
12.4%
15.7%
13.8%
11.2%
12.1%
10.0%
8.8%
8.5%
4.1%
4.1%
6.5%
4.9%
3.1%
3.2%
9.5%
1.6%
3.3%
7.1%
8.9%
1.5%
1.2%
8.2%
6.9%
20%10%5% 15%0
16
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
HEARING
PEOPLE
DEAF
PEOPLE
Figure 10
EARNINGS BY AGE
AGE
0
$60,000
$40,000
$20,000
30 40 50 60
EARNINGS
Although the ages of 25-64 are considered
“working age,” according to common federal
guidelines, employment rates and earnings
change across the lifespan. For deaf and hearing
people alike, earnings increase as people age
(Figure 10). However, there are some differences
in these earnings gains across time for deaf and
hearing people. First, the median earnings for deaf
people demonstrates much more within-group
variation, which is expected to the smaller sample
size. Although, this data point could also indicate
that there is greater income instability for deaf
people in the United States. Second, earnings
gains over time are signicantly stronger for
hearing people
than for deaf people. Earnings are more
strongly correlated with age for hearing people,
(Spearman’s ρ=0.14), than for deaf people,
at (Spearman’s ρ=0.11). This may indicate that
earnings gains related to age and experience are
weaker for deaf people than for hearing people.
It is a possibility that deaf people have fewer
opportunities for promotion and raises over
time, as the research literature would have us
expect. Another possibility is that a cohort effect
is at play, where younger deaf people have more
advantages than older deaf people and are more
competitive in the workforce.
EMPLOYMENT ACROSS THE LIFESPAN
17
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
AGE
0
25
50
75
100
30 40 50 60
PERCENTAGE EMPLOYED
Figure 11
EMPLOYMENT BY AGE
HEARING
PEOPLE
DEAF
PEOPLE
18
Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019
The data for this project were taken from the
Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) of the
2017 American Community Survey (ACS), con-
ducted by the United States census. The PUMS
provides a condential subset of the ACS for
the public to analyze and these data were made
available in September of 2018. The ACS is a
legally mandated questionnaire sent to a random
sample of addresses of homes and group
quarters in the US. The questionnaire includes
questions about both housing units and their
individual occupants. The PUMS dataset includes
survey weights, designed to produce estimates
that generalize to U.S. people, along with a set
of replicate weights used to estimate sampling
error. These weights account for the complex
probability sample design as well as for non-
response. Although the census bureau goes to
great lengths to minimize non-sampling error,
it is impossible to fully eliminate, so estimates
should be interpreted with care. More information
can be found at http://www.census.gov/
programs-surveys/acs/about.html.
The sample of interest in these analyses was non-
institutionalized people between the ages of 25
and 64. Recall that the U.S. Census collects data
on functional limitations and not disability or
identity labels. The disability categories used in
the ACS ask respondents to report if they have
any serious difculty in the following areas: a)
hearing, b) vision, c) cognitive (remembering, con-
centrating, and making decisions), d) ambulatory
(walking or climbing stairs), e) self-care (bathing
or dressing), and f) independent living (doing
errands alone such as visiting a doctor’s ofce or
shopping). Survey respondents who stated that
they were deaf, or had serious difculty hearing,
were used to represent the deaf population in
these analyses. More than 37,700 deaf people
were in the nal sample. The comparison group
was those who did not report having any hearing
difculties, what we label as hearing people. For
the most part, the data for the group of hearing
people are largely comparable to data for the
general population. But for comparison purposes,
this analysis focuses on people in the general
population that did not report any type of difculty
hearing, which allows for an understanding of
what employment experiences may be unique to
the deaf population, and what may not be.
METHODS
Median annual earnings were calculated from
full-time employed people, dened as those who
worked at least 50 weeks in the past 12 months,
at least 35 hours per week. Data from more than
15,000 deaf people were used to report median
annual earnings. Median annual earnings are
rounded off to the nearest hundred.
Occupational categories from the North American
Industry Classication System (NAICS) was used
to generate the categories for elds of work, with
minor modications, largely following abbrevi-
ations in the PUMS data dictionary. Two new
categories were generated: “management of com-
panies and enterprises,” “professional, scientic,
and technical services,” and “administrative and
support and waste management and remediation
services” were combined under “professional
services” while “nance and insurance” and “real
estate, rental, and leasing” were combined under
“nance.” The NAICS category “Health Care and
Social Assistance” was divided into two new
categories, “Health Care” and “Social Assistance.”
More information about these categories can be
found at census.gov/eos/www/naics.
The descriptive statistics in this report are all
corrected by the person-level survey weights
provided by the census. When numbers are com-
pared to each other in this report, we used a t-test,
with standard errors calculated using provided
survey replicate weights, to determine if difference
in the numbers were due to statistical noise.
These statistical tests are purely descriptive in
nature, and we do not intend to suggest that any
of the associations described are causal in nature.
As such, we did not correct for any other variables
in providing these descriptive statistics.
The R syntax for all the statistical estimates in the
paper can be accessed at https://github.com/
nationalDeafCenter/attainmentAndEmployment.
THIS REPORT MAY BE CITED AS:
Garberoglio, C.L., Palmer, J.L., Cawthon, S., & Sales, A. (2019). Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2019.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Ofce of Special Education Programs, National Deaf Center on
Postsecondary Outcomes.
NDC
National Deaf Center
on Postsecondary Outcomes
