Browsing by Subject "Employment"

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Disability policy in the U. S. : current challenges and future opportunities
(2014-08) Woodard, Taylor Connor; Warner, David C.; Hough, Catherine
Nearly a quarter of a century after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), people with disabilities remain severely under-employed. All the while, they command a disproportionate share of public monies through Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This report seeks to contribute to the conversation on current disability policy, as well as offer short-, mid-, and long-term solutions. The document opens with a history of the Social Security Administration (SSA), the federal agency responsible for setting national disability policy. This is followed by a discussion of SSA’s primary categories of client support: health care and employment initiatives. The health section details the medical coverage attached to both SSDI and SSI, with a particular focus on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Next is a review of work incentives offered to SSDI/SSI beneficiaries. Concluding this chapter is an investigation of the causes of under-employment that continue to plague the disabled circle, in spite of these many interventions. The study continues by exploring various issues affecting today’s U.S. disability policy. These include both exogenous and endogenous factors, including the growth of SSDI and SSI; the structural issues inherent to the current paradigm, as well as a number of disincentives to employment. The analysis then turns to disability policy in the international community. Of particular interest are the experiences of Sweden and the Netherlands as they established fiscally sound policy while assisting the nation’s disabled. From these case studies emerge several lessons pertinent to the U.S. This chapter closes with a thorough analysis of these European nations’ responses to their ever-growing disability programs, and the implications for disability policy makers and advocates. Concluding the report are several recommendations that can guide policy makers and advocates as they strive to place the disability community on the path to self-sufficiency. Most relevant and promising to the U.S. are the passage of the ABLE Act, instituting a national Medicaid Buy-In, and establishing a central disability agency. With successful implementation of these reforms, American with disabilities can potentially finally realize what the ADA promised 25 years ago.
Education, labor, and health disparities of racial and sexual minorities
(2020-06-25) Delhommer, Scott Michael; Murphy, Richard J., Ph. D.; Trejo, Stephen J., 1959-; Oettinger, Gerald; Black, Sandra; Vogl, Tom
The three chapters of this dissertation explore the applied economics of inequality in educational attainment, labor market outcomes, and sexual health for racial and sexual minorities. In the first chapter, I explore the role of same-race teachers reducing gaps in minority education, presenting the first evidence that matching high school students with same-race teachers improves the students’ college outcomes. To address endogenous sorting of students and teachers, I use detailed Texas administrative data on classroom assignment, exploiting variation in student and teacher race within the same course, year, and school, eliminating 99% of observed same-race sorting. Race-matching raises minority students’ course performance as well as improves longer-term outcomes like high school graduation, college enrollment, and major choice. My second chapter examines how public policy can reduce labor market inequality across sexual orientation. I present the first quasi-experimental research examining the effect of both local and state anti-discrimination laws on sexual orientation on the labor supply and wages of lesbian, gay, and bisexual workers. To do so, I use American Community Survey data on household composition to infer sexual orientation and combine this with a unique panel dataset on local anti-discrimination laws. Using variation in law implementation across localities over time, I find these laws significantly reduce inequalities in the labor supply and wages across sexual orientation for both men and women. The last chapter explores the moral hazard and health inequality implications of a life-saving HIV prevention drug, PrEP, for gay men. We document the first evidence of PrEP on aggregate STD and HIV infections. Using the pre-treatment variation in the gay male population, we show that male STD rates were parallel in states with high and low gay population before the introduction of PrEP and begin to diverge afterwards. However, HIV infections were consistently downwardly trending before PrEP with no break at the introduction of PrEP, making inference of the effect of PrEP on HIV infections difficult. Specifically, we show that one additional male PrEP user increases male chlamydia infections by 0.55 cases, male gonorrhea infections by 0.61 cases, and male syphilis infections by 0.03 cases.
Employment and education outcomes of transition-age youth with depressive-mood disorders : insights from the federal-state vocational rehabilitation program
(2019-07-09) Akinola, Olayemi Ajibola; Doabler, Christian; Brooks, Gene; Sorrells, Audrey; Beretvas, Susan; Falcomata, Terry
Transition-age youth (TAY) living with depressive-mood disorders (DMD) experience adverse employment and educational outcomes. Over 30,000 TAY with these conditions enroll in the federal-state vocational rehabilitation (VR) program annually. Yet, little is known about their experiences and outcomes from the program. Using the national Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) data for 2015 fiscal year, this study sought to, (a) shed light on the demographic factors that impact education and employment outcomes of TAY with DMD in the federal-state VR program and, (b) investigate associations between VR services and their education and employment outcomes. The analytic sample comprised of 4,772 TAY who had DMD as a primary cause of disability. Descriptive, logistic and multilinear regression analyses were computed to examine the associations between youth-level variables (demographic characteristics and VR services) and successful employment, weekly earnings and postsecondary degree attainment. Results suggest that demographic characteristics such as age, gender, race/ethnicity and level of education are associated with successful employment, weekly earnings and postsecondary degree attainment. The receipt of VR services such as occupational training, job readiness training, supported employment, job search, job placement, on-the-job support, treatment and education support services were also found to be associated with successful employment, weekly earnings and postsecondary degree attainment. The implication of these findings for practice and future research are discussed
Essays on the economic incidence of minimum wage policies
(2021-05-06) Garita Garita, Jonathan; Sahin, Aysegul, 1972-; Mueller, Andreas, 1979-; Trejo, Stephen; Hamermesh, Daniel
Minimum wage policies are implemented worldwide to protect workers and reduce inequality. This dissertation analyzes the effects of raising minimum wages on firms to shed new light on the policy's trade-offs. Additionally, this research provides new insights on how firms adjust their production process in response to a relative increase in the labor costs. For such purpose, I investigate Costa Rica's occupation-specific minimum wage setting. The first chapter focuses on different margins of firm and employment dynamics. I assemble rich administrative data covering the universe of workers and firms in 2006-2017 to construct firm-level exposure measures to the minimum wage policy. Then, I estimate the impact of differential exposure to the minimum wage on firm outcomes at several year horizons. The analysis suggests that minimum wages induce firms to increase their labor shares, but with a negative and persistent impact on their profitability. The positive effect on the labor shares moderates as firms reduce their employment levels and expand their capital stocks. Even though surviving firms slightly reduce their employment levels, they experience a substantial decline in hiring rates. Furthermore, employment elasticities are negative and more significant when accounting for the extensive margin effects (firm exit). Workers in occupations that are more susceptible to technology substitution face more substantial employment reductions. The second chapter studies the substitution dynamics between capital and labor using Costa Rica's minimum wage setting. I estimate the change in the capital and labor ratios after a minimum wage increase, finding important heterogeneity across occupational groups. Workers in low-skilled and routine intensive occupations experience more intensive substitution effects. Then, I exploit the diverse reduced-form elasticities to compute micro-elasticities of substitution between capital and labor. I consistently find a value below one, suggesting that the substitution away from labor towards capital is not large enough to reduce the labor share after a minimum wage increase. Specifically, I compute an elasticity of 0.59 for all firms, and significant heterogeneity across representative sectors, stressing differences in the production technologies across industries. The estimated value is higher in manufacturing (0.81) and tradable sectors (0.76) but smaller in non-tradable sectors (0.46). The third chapter examines the effect of raising minimum wages on firm entry and the associated implications on aggregate employment dynamics. The results of the analysis indicate that increasing the minimum wages led to a reduction in firm entry rates between 3.7 and 5.4 percent. I then exploit a dynamic framework of employment based on \cite{pugsley2019grown} to show that changes in the minimum wage has sizeable consequences on aggregate employment by deterring new firms from entering the market. Aggregate employment in Costa Rica is around 0.8 lower by 2017 due to the missing entrants induced by the policy.
Essays on the economics of state policy reform
(2018-05) Hansen, Collin Andrew; Trejo, Stephen J.; Oettinger, Gerald; Murphy, Richard; Leal, David
Lately, the debate over various public policies, such as immigration reform and tax policy, has heated up in the United States. This dissertation seeks to explore the different impacts that some of the policy changes have on different groups of people. In doing so, I am able to help better inform policymakers of the possible economic outcomes of future reforms. The first chapter examines the labor market impacts of two state-level immigration policies designed to reduce the presence of undocumented immigrants: E-Verify and "Show Me Your Papers" (SMYP). Using a difference-in-difference strategy, I examine the separate and combined effects of these laws on the employment and wages of likely unauthorized, working-age men and women and the groups of low-skill American workers with whom they are most likely to compete for jobs. I also look at how these laws impact state-level economic outcomes, including industry- specific GDP. I find that immigration reform reduces employment and hourly wages among undocumented men. Immigration reform also results in large, negative impacts on state GDP, especially in industries that rely more heavily on undocumented workers. The second chapter examines the questions of whether consumers respond differently to taxes of different salience levels and if there is heterogeneity in consumer tax salience across income groups and other categorical groups such as age and education groups. I find evidence supporting tax salience theory in the market for alcohol. Additionally, I find evidence of heterogeneity in tax salience effects across different education levels. In particular, more educated consumers are more responsive to changes in sales taxes. The third chapter focuses on the impacts of immigration reform on the children of undocumented immigrants. By comparing siblings in a difference-in-difference approach, I show that DACA, a policy that reduces legal barriers for young undocumented immigrants, increases the educational attainment of potentially eligible youth. Meanwhile, policies such as Alabama HB 56, which increase barriers for undocumented immigrants, reduce the enrollment rates and increase dropout rates for the children of undocumented immigrants.
Evaluation of Literacy Coalition of Central Texas Texas Family Literacy AmeriCorps (TFLA) Initiative
(Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, 2021-12) Juniper, Cynthia
Literacy Coalition of Central Texas (LCCT) received funding from the OneStar Foundation to implement the Texas Family Literacy AmeriCorps (TFLA) program. Each partner site works with two LCCT AmeriCorps members who are trained to implement the TFLA program in the context of each site’s existing literacy services. Program participants meet with AmeriCorps members to receive one-on-one job coaching services. Students interested in advanced career development instruction receive job readiness training and have an opportunity to enter occupational skills training. Participants work with an AmeriCorps job coach to complete an Individual Learning Plan to further outline their educational and career goals. The TFLA program has the potential to address inequities in employment and earnings advancement by coordinating education, training, and support services for low-wage workers to advance into in-demand, middle-skill jobs to increase their wages and economic security. Literacy Coalition of Central Texas contracted with the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources (RMC), a research institute of the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, to conduct an evaluation including implementation, outcomes and impacts analysis components. The purpose of the study is to present information that can assist LCCT to better understand the components of effective efforts to advance the careers of low-income workers.
Female veterans face complex transition, high unemployment
(2015-05) Kulshrestha, Kritika Pramod; Todd, Russell; Rivas-Rodriguez, Maggie
Julie Puzan left Falls City, Texas, to join the Air Force in September 2003 as soon as she completed high school. Over the next six years, she was deployed to Guam twice as a weapons loader. In 2009 she left the service. That’s when things got tough. When she mustered out, she knew she needed help getting back in civilian life. She just didn’t know where to get it. Eventually she navigated the maze of assistance programs for vets and began putting her life together. Help was out there, but it was hard to find. She also realized that a flood of female vets was coming home to assistance that had been designed for men. Lots of programs dealt with problems like combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder, but few were out there to treat the aftermath of sexual assaults and other challenges faced by females. Puzan is among 2.3 million female veterans in or entering the American work force after America's recent series of wars. The economy hasn't been good at absorbing these veterans. The V.A. and other veterans organizations are beginning to reach out to female vets, but find themselves behind the curve given the fast growth of the population they serve. As long as that's true, female vets will have to look hard to find the help they need in a system designed for males.
An interpretative analysis of the economic and educational status of Latin-Americans in Texas, with emphasis upon the basic factors underlying an approach to an improved program of occupational guidance, training, and adjustment for secondary schools
(1942) Broom, Perry Morris, 1908-; Sánchez, George Isidore, 1906-1972
La juventud popular en el Perú
(1991-03) Carrión, Julio F
Latinas in broadcast journalism
(1995) Salinas, Laura Marie; Jensen, Robert, 1958-
The demographic composition of the United States is changing and Latinos, are becoming this nation's fastest growing ethnic minority. These changes will alter the makeup of persons in the work place. It is estimated that by the year 2000, the the majority of persons entering the work place will be ethnic minorities and women. These new workers, who are culturally different from the dominant White ethnic group, have experiences that are seldom heard and important to understand. This study examined the experiences of three successful Latina broadcast journalists in Texas. The ethnographic data gathered from interviews with the three women provided information regarding their experiences with racism, tokenism, and their coping strategies within the newsroom This research allows readers to better understand the challenges facing both the media organizations and the Latinas they hire
Local Investments in Workforce Development: 2012 Evaluation Update
(Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, 2012-01) Smith, Tara Carter; King, Christopher T.; Schroeder, Daniel G.
Travis County makes numerous investments in workforce development activities each year. In order to understand the impact of these investments, the County has asked the Ray Marshall Center at the University of Texas to conduct an evaluation of the workforce development services it funds. Evaluation Components The evaluation is organized into two areas of focus: (1) workforce demonstration projects, and (2) other workforce development services. These are described in detail below. Evaluation of Workforce Demonstration Projects The Rapid Employment Model (REM) demonstration project initiated by Travis County is a collaborative effort of the County and Workforce Solutions – Capital Area Workforce Board and area workforce service providers to decrease the amount of time an individual is out of work by connecting individuals with short-term (less than 6 weeks) training. The Gainful Employment Model (GEM) demonstration project is also a collaborative effort of the County and Workforce Solutions – Capital Area Workforce Board. GEM provides access to longer-term (up to 9 months) workforce training. The evaluation of these workforce demonstration projects includes an outcomes evaluation and exploratory impacts analysis based on a quasi-experimental research design. The ongoing outcomes evaluation documents the results of the demonstration projects, including the number of clients served; number completing training; number placed in employment; wages earned; and other outputs/outcomes that can be determined largely through linked administrative data. Data for this portion of the evaluation comes from the administrative databases maintained by each provider; The Workforce Information System of Texas (TWIST); Unemployment Insurance (UI) wage records; and other sources, such as TANF and Food Stamp Employment and Training program records. We use a quasi-experimental design to match REM and GEM participants with similar individuals receiving other workforce services available in the region. Differences in outcomes for participants and comparison group members are analyzed to determine the impact of each demonstration project. Key evaluation questions include: How effective is the demonstration project, as measured by reduced time unemployed, reduced unemployment insurance payments, employment retention and increased earnings? How do key participant outcomes compare to those for similar, nonparticipating individuals? Which skills training programs are most effective for graduates and why? What changes can be made to services/treatments to improve outcomes for participants?
Mercado de trabajo, reforma laboral y creación de empleo: Perú, 1990-1995
(1997-09) Verdera, Francisco
Mercados de trabajo y distribucion de ingresos en cuatro centros urbanos de Argentina, 1974-1981
(1984-02) Dieguez, Hector L.; Petrecolla, Alberto
Monitoring the Effects of the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport. Volume I, Ground Transportation Impacts
(Council for Advanced Transportation Studies, 1976-12) Dunlay, William J., Jr; Henry, Lyndon; Caffery, Thomas G.; Wiersig, Douglas W.; Zambrano, Waldo A.
The report presents new conceptual and methodological approaches to developing models to interrelate airline schedules, airport-based employee work-shift schedules, and airport access ground traffic volumes in any time period for a given report. The results of a survey of ground travel at the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport are presented and analyzed. Specific ground transportation impacts of the installation of this relatively new airport are assessed. Models are described which (1) express volumes of automobiles carrying airline passengers and visitors as a function of airline schedules and (2) transform existing or future employee work-shift schedules into estimates of incoming and outgoing employee vehicle volumes in any time interval. Preliminary research toward the development of a model to estimate public transit passenger volumes as a function of airline passenger volumes is also described.
Navigating the criminal records complex : hiring and job seeking in the inland empire
(2017-05) Burch, Melissa Lynn; Vargas, João Helion Costa; Gordon, Edmund T; Wilson Gilmore, Ruth; Hale, Charles; Speed, Shannon
Navigating the Criminal Records Complex: Hiring and Job Seeking in the Inland Empire is an urban ethnography that seeks to shed light on the problem of employer reluctance to hire workers with criminal convictions by analyzing how criminal history is considered in the hiring process. Set in Southern California’s Inland Empire, the study examines the attitudes and practices of business owners and human resource professionals alongside the labor market experiences of job seekers with criminal records and the advocates who assist them. While a significant body of sociological literature documents the scope of employer aversion to hiring applicants with criminal records, less is known about how individual, cultural and structural factors intersect to shape employers’ decisions. Using the qualitative methods of extended participant observation and interviews, this research sets employers’ subjectivity (including values, beliefs and racial attitudes) and specific business concerns against the backdrop a political-economic climate characterized by regulation, risk-aversion, competition and litigation. Overall, the study furthers understanding of how gendered and classed racism gets reproduced as a socially structured reality through processes of criminalization. It interrogates the role of the state in legislating the exclusion of criminalized peoples and fueling a burgeoning, for-profit background screening industry. In so doing, this study reveals that despite its presentation as value-neutral, criminal records screening functions as a significant mechanism of racial and economic stratification.
Origins of labor market changes in the transition to an information economy : wage structure, employment, and occupation transformation in Taiwan after 1990
(2009-05) Wang, Wei-ching; Sinha, Nikhil; Straubhaar, Joseph D.
Labor market change in societies where an information economy is evolving, is a central area of concern for information society scholars today. While there has been considerable research conducted on cases of developed countries, research on labor market changes during a transition to an information economy outside of the advanced industrial economies is scarce. Thus, this dissertation proposes to examine the changes in wage, employment, and occupation structure that take place when an NIC, such as Taiwan, ushers in an information economy, and to explore the reasons behind these changes. This dissertation combined the historical, policy, and statistical analyses and concluded that the transformation from labor intensive manufacturing to an information intensive economy, as arranged by the Taiwanese government due to its own political and governing purposes, and also in the context of international political and economic circumstances, determined Taiwan’s economic resource arrangement, which resulted in an increasingly unbalanced labor market in terms of wage distribution, unemployment, and occupation structure. This transformation changed and shaped the structure of the labor market to benefit workers more skilled with information, more professional, having higher level knowledge and a higher level of education, while an increasing amount of white-collar and service workers began earning comparatively low wages. At the same time the demand for blue-collar and lower skill workers severely declined. Moreover, the total labor demand of information manufacturing and information intensive service is much less than that of traditional labor intensive manufacturing, resulting in Taiwan’s increasing unemployment problem. Among these processes, many different social, political, policy, and economic factors interacted and collectively determined this result. Among them, the role of the state in shaping Taiwan’s information economy in general and the labor market situation in particular did matter considerably.
Predictors of postsecondary educational and employment outcomes for transition age state-federal vocational rehabilitation consumers with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
(2015-05) Glynn, Kathleen Mary; Schaller, James L.; Sorrells, Audrey M; Brooks, Gene I; Seay, Penelope C; Flower, Andrea L
This study examined the relationships among consumer demographic and vocational rehabilitation case service predictor variables and employment/postsecondary educational outcome variables for transition age consumers with ADHD ages 16-19 and 20-24. Utilizing the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) 911 data file from the 2012 fiscal year, logistic regression was used to examine predictors of successful employment outcomes and postsecondary educational attainment at case closure for each age group. Differences in weekly earnings at closure for White, African American and Hispanic/Latino males and females were examined using Analysis of Variance. Independent measures t-tests were used to examine mean earnings between consumers who received college training as a case service and those who were not provided with this service. Results revealed similarities and differences between the two age groups. Nearly 80% percent of transition age consumers with ADHD were in the younger age group. Race was a statistically significant demographic variable with Hispanic/Latino ethnicity related to successful employment and postsecondary educational outcome whereas African American status was negatively related to both successful employment and postsecondary educational outcome. Public support was also negatively related to successful employment outcome in both age groups. Job placement assistance, job search assistance, and on the job supports significantly predicted successful employment outcomes in both age groups. Gender, race/ethnicity and level of education were demographic predictors of postsecondary educational outcomes. Female and Hispanic/Latino consumers were more likely to have attained postsecondary education. Assessment, college training, occupational training, maintenance, rehabilitation technology and information and referral all positively predicted postsecondary educational attainment. On the job supports, job readiness training, job placement assistance, and miscellaneous training had a negative relationship to postsecondary educational attainment. Statistically significant differences were found in weekly earnings across race in both age groups and between men and women in the younger age group only. White males earned more than any other group and Hispanic/Latino consumers earned lower wages, despite having higher levels of education and employment. In both age groups, consumers receiving college training as a case service earned significantly more per week at closure than those who were not provided this service. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
Role of transportation in employment outcomes of the disadvantaged
(2009-05) Yi, Chang, Ph. D.; Zhang, Ming, 1963 Apr. 22-
This dissertation focuses on the relationship between accessibility to job opportunities, travel mode choices and employment outcomes of the disadvantaged. In past research examining the impact of accessibility on employment outcomes of the underprivileged, it has been an implicit assumption that a poor individual's employment status is directly connected to accessibility to transport modes and job opportunities. This dissertation challenges such a fundamental assumption and argues that due to unique travel needs of the poor, a high level of access to transportation means or job accessibility provided by a given travel mode does not automatically determine the choice of that particular travel mode. What is missing in the existing literature is examination of how accessibility affects travel mode choices for low-income individuals, and how travel mode preferences subsequently influence their employment outcomes. The objective of this dissertation is to shed new light on current understanding of the relationship between transportation and employment of the disadvantaged. The study focuses on explaining what factors influence low-income individuals in their choice of a transportation mode, and more importantly, how modal preferences, along with job accessibility, affect employment of the poor. Household travel survey data from the San Francisco Bay Area and the Atlanta Metropolitan Region were used to examine this interrelationship. The research findings show that higher modal and job accessibility do not always determine the choice of a particular travel mode, defying the assumption of the previous studies. What is important for enhancing one's employment is whether or not a low-income person has regular access to cars and an individual circumstance allows the poor to utilize existing automobiles rather than the efficiency of highway network. In terms of public transportation, higher job accessibility by transit network is associated with better employment outcomes for transit users. Nonetheless, when transit riders had to access transit systems by walking, job accessibility did not have meaningful impact on employment. It is important to note that the impact that job accessibility by transit has on employment is found only in a transit-friendly Bay Area. Policy implication from this dissertation is discussed.
Setting the gender stage : the role of perceived gender in gender performance and expression
(2022-08-11) Arndt, Amy; Tillman, Katharine; Yan, Veronica; Markman, Arthur; Harden, Kathryn Paige
Recent models of gender view gender expression, the performative aspect of gender, as an essential component of one’s gender (Hyde et al., 2018; Tate et al., 2014). The way a person dresses, walks, and speaks can all comprise a person’s gender expression. However, if gender is in part a performance, who is the “audience,” and how are they reacting to the performance? This dissertation focuses on how one’s gender is interpreted by others. In five chapters, this work explores audience reactions to gender performances, examining how gender perceptions are formed, how they can differ from a performer’s intent, and the larger consequences of gender perceptions for both the one making the perception and the one being perceived. The first set of studies examines how gender perceptions occur spontaneously and can be affected by both contextual and individual differences. The later studies examine the effects of gender perceptions in conjunction with the effects of a person’s actual gender. The results from these studies conclude that gender perceptions can have a greater effect on certain outcomes, focusing on career-related outcomes, than a person’s actual gender. This work identifies both predictors of perceived gender and effects of perceived gender, noting that gender perceptions affect both the individual who is making the gender perception and the individual that is being perceived. Ultimately, this work pushes for an expanded understand of gender, one which incorporates gender perceptions to better understand how gender functions in everyday social interactions.
Stuttering in the workplace : employers’ attitudes, employability ratings, and hiring decisions
(2024-05) Young, Megan Michelle ; Byrd, Courtney T.; Rodney Gabel; Geoffrey Coalson; Michael Mahometa
Ableism refers to beliefs and practices that result in the unequal treatment of people with actual or assumed disabilities. Ableist perceptions of people who stutter contribute to employment disparities such as vocational role entrapment, hiring discrimination, salary discrepancies, and underemployment. Previous research has shown that self-disclosure of stuttering and high communication competence strategies can facilitate counter-stereotypical perceptions of adults who stutter, but it is unknown how these strategies would impact employers’ perceptions and hiring decisions. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore employers’ attitudes toward stuttering and determine whether self-disclosure and high communication competence significantly influence employers’ perceptions and hiring decisions through three specific aims. Aim 1 identified employers’ beliefs about and reactions to people who stutter (i.e., attitudes). Aim 2 determined the influence of self-disclosure and high communication competence strategies on perceptions of employability. Aim 3 determined the influence of self-disclosure and high communication competence strategies on employers’ decisions to hire a candidate who stutters for a role with high communication demands. For Aim 1, a sample of employers (n = 331) completed the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes – Stuttering. For Aims 2 and 3, an additional sample of employers (n = 279) were randomly assigned to watch a video of a candidate who stutters participating in an initial job interview. These videos were of the same candidate but varied based on self-disclosure (present, absent) and communication competence (high, low). After viewing the video, employers completed the Candidate Employability Scale (Aim 2) and answered hiring decision questions (Aim 3). Results of Aim 1 indicate that employers demonstrated both positive and negative attitudes toward people who stutter. Demographic variables such as race and ethnicity, gender, and familiarity with a person who stutters were observed to influence beliefs and reactions relating to stuttering. Results of Aim 2 indicate that the candidate’s communication competence as well as employer demographic variables such as gender, years of hiring experience, and familiarity with a person who stutters significantly influence employability ratings. Results of Aim 3 indicated that neither communication competence, self-disclosure, nor employer demographic variables were predictive of hiring decisions. Analysis of responses to open-ended hiring decision questions suggest that employers perceive stuttering to be a primary barrier to employment; however, employers assigned to high communication competence conditions were observed to provide more positive commentary about the candidate. Future directions and clinical implications for speech-language pathologists working with individuals who stutter are discussed.