The 2019 Youth Transition Report: Outcomes for Youth and Young Adults with Disabilities

The report examines data for transition-age youth and young adults (ages 14 - 24) to determine if the nation is accomplishing the goals to close the achievement gaps and increase opportunities for youth and young adults with disabilities.

This is the first report in a future series of reports. This initial study presents the status of the selected population, education, employment, and opportunity youth indicators. In future years, the annual Youth Transition Report will also include a longitudinal trend analysis of those key indicators of youth and young adults with and without disabilities.

For this first report, the authors conducted a custom analysis of youth and young adults at both national and state levels to present the top and bottom five states across categories to examine more closely the differences that national averages may obscure. Key population, education, employment, and opportunity youth indicators were derived from the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) population file (2013-2017 ACS 5-year estimates). The authors also included calculated data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Department of Education’s Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Website.

This report provides data highlights and discusses in detail the following:

1. Prevalence of youth and young adults with disabilities;
2. Education outcomes for youth and young adults with disabilities;
3. Employment outcomes for youth and young adults with disabilities; and
4. Opportunity (neither in school nor employed) youth and young adults with disabilities.

Data examined by the authors confirm that significant gaps remain between youth and young adults with and without disabilities in the education and workforce systems, despite federal and state legislation and systemic efforts to improve opportunities.

The data examined in the report confirmed the following:

• The youth and young adults with disabilities are less likely than their peers without disabilities to complete high school, enter post-secondary education, and enter the workforce.
• As the youth and young adults become working-age adults, they face additional barriers that result in high rates of unemployment and lead them to withdraw from the workforce.
• At a time when youth and young adults are preparing for lifelong success in careers and financial independence, the youth and young adults with disabilities are more likely to be discouraged from opportunities to remain in, or reconnect with, education and workforce systems.
• The largest category of disability that is self-reported through the Census is a cognitive difficulty, which includes those with autism, Down Syndrome, traumatic brain injury, dementia, attention deficit disorder, specific learning disability, and mental and emotional challenges.

The study suggests that states with the lowest gaps may offer ideas on policies and practices for all states to consider; however, according to the data in the report, no state has entirely achieved full equity for youth and young adults with disabilities. The report notes that achieving equity will require the engagement of youth and young adults with disabilities, not only to inform the challenges in front of us, but also to solve those problems to ensure full inclusion of all people with disabilities across the country.

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2020
• Author(s): E. Cheng and D. Shaewitz
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: India Johnson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies