StateData

What is a competitive integrated job? A competitive integrated job, or competitive integrated employment (CIE), is the term often used to describe an individual job in the community. In a competitive integrated job, a person works for a local business, earning a regular wage alongside coworkers who do not have disabilities. The person may get help to find or keep the job, but the business they work for is not paid to provide support to the person. Competitive integrated employment is the identified goal for both Medicaid Home and Community Based Waiver and vocational rehabilitation services.

What is an integrated community job?

You will also see the term integrated community jobs being used to describe some peoples' jobs. Integrated community job is a broad term that includes CIE and small group community employment. Small group jobs are also called group supported employment or group supported jobs. Group jobs are not CIE. 

• In 2022, 16% of people who received services from their state intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) agency were employed in an integrated community job (individual & group jobs).
• If we look just at people who have individual jobs, we get a better understanding of how many people with IDD are working in competitive integrated employment. In 2022, 10% of people worked in individual, competitive integrated jobs.
• People in individual, competitive integrated jobs worked on average 14.25 hours per week and earned on average $11.70 per hour.
• CIE is the goal of federal and state policies for people with disabilities, including people with IDD.

This data is from the National Core Indicators Project (NCI). Learn more about the NCI project!

The American Community Survey (ACS) does not allow us to look only at individuals with an intellectual and developmental disability (IDD), but the survey allows us to compare the number of people with and without disabilities who are working. In the ACS, data about people with IDD are included with all people who have cognitive disabilities. The US Census conducts the American Community Survey (ACS). Learn more about the ACS!

People with a cognitive disability, including people with IDD, are much less likely to work than people with no disability. In 2022:

• 76.7% of people with no disability had jobs
• 43.7% of people with any disability had jobs
• 37.9% of people with a cognitive disability had jobs

People with any disability and people with a cognitive disability are also more likely to be living in a household that is below the poverty line than people without a disability. In 2022:  

• Only 10.3% of all working-age people without a disability lived in a household that was below the poverty line
• 24.8% of people with any disability lived in a household that was below the poverty line
• 28.1% of people with a cognitive disability lived in a household that was below the poverty line

But what happens when we compare data about poverty and employment? People with a disability who are not working are more likely to be living in a household that meets the definition of “poor” compared to people with a disability who are working. The difference in poverty rates between people who are employed and people who are not suggests that work is a critical part of helping people with disabilities be independent.

Many people with IDD want to work but do not have a job. Research shows us that people with IDD want competitive integrated jobs, but do not always get help to make this happen.

• Less than 1 in 5 people with IDD have a paid, integrated job
• Of the people who do not have a job, 46% say they want a job in the community
• Of those who want a job, only 35% have a goal to get a job in the community documented in their Individualized Service Plan.

Data Source: National Core Indicators, 2022 

ICI’s National Survey of State Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Agencies' Employment and Day Services tracks the number of adults with IDD in employment and/or day services. Learn about the ICI’s National Survey!

• Between 1988 and 2021, the number of people who participate in services that lead to or maintain integrated employment grew from a few thousand to more than 130,000.
• The number of people working in sheltered workshops went down, especially in the last few years. Since 2015, the total number of people in sheltered workshops funded through state IDD agencies has decreased by 50%. In 2021, just 51,786 people participated in sheltered workshops.

The number of people who participate in day services grew the most. Day services are sometimes called non-work services. When people are getting day services, they do not earn money. People can participate in day services either in segregated program settings or in the community. However, we don’t know how individualized day services are when they occur in a group setting. People are more likely to spend time in non-work or group activities with facility-based non-work, often called day habilitation services. This is the most common daytime outcome.

• Nationally, about 1 of 5 people with IDD who get employment or day services are supported to find or keep a community job by their state IDD agency.
• But every state is different! Some state IDD agencies support less than 5% of people in integrated employment services and some states support more than 50%.

State IDD agencies' policies have a strong impact on whether someone gets the services and support they need to help them find and keep a community job. The good news is that we know the changes that state IDD agencies can make to support more people to work in the community. Learn more about what states can do to help more people get jobs! 

Every state is different! The data below focus on people with an intellectual disability.

Nationally, in 2022, 11% of people who left VR with a job were people with an intellectual disability. This percentage ranged from 5% in Massachusetts and New York to 24% in Indiana. Many factors can impact these data:

• The structure of the state’s entire service system
• The state VR system’s focus on particular data reporting categories such as “successful closures” and how national funders and legislators perceive the data
• Interagency roles/relationships in the employment process

In 2022, more than 13,000 individuals with an ID left VR services with a competitive integrated job. The rehabilitation rate is a key indicator of how many people who received services left VR with a job. The rehabilitation rate tends to decrease as the percentage of job seekers who receive services increases.

• During the past 10 years, the rehabilitation rate of job seekers with ID has steadily declined from 56% in 2014 to 40% in 2021, although in 2022 it bounced back to 44%.
• The rehabilitation rate of job seekers with other disabilities reflected a similar pattern, declining from 57% in 2015 to 42% in 2021 and then increasing to 45% in 2022.

See full table data here