Success-rate probabilities of persons with disabilities in the Nebraska Department of Vocational Rehabilitation

The joint federal-state program, vocational rehabilitation (VR), is designed to assist persons with disabilities either to obtain or retain paid employment. This research investigated the influence that demographic, disability and geographic factors have upon the probability of success from the VR program in the state of Nebraska (NVRP). The probit model was used to analyze data collected over a 10-year period for 12,470 NVRP clients. Research findings reveal that African American and American Indian participants consistently experience lower probabilities of success than whites in the program. This finding may be explained by the NVRP\u27s lack of outreach programs to individuals from these two groups. Additionally, ethnicity is a strong indicator of nonsuccess for clients from these two groups who report zero earnings. Lack of earnings combines with ethnicity to reduce success probability for African American and American Indian participants. Ethnicity is not a significant factor in predicting success outcomes for these two groups with pre-program earnings. Clients with mental disorders also experience significantly low success probabilities. Participants with mental disorders not only exhibit low success when examined in isolation, but also, when included in any disability combinations, they reduce outcomes for the entire group. The finding on the performance of persons with mental disorders is consistent with earlier research. An explanation for this result is the NVRP\u27s lack of appropriate services available to these participants. Additionally, clients from urban areas perform significantly worse than clients from rural areas. When examined according to the distinct regional offices, only one of the urban offices, Grand Island, is exhibiting significantly positive results. Because the probit regression controlled for all disability and demographic variables, the significant success of the rural offices is explained by the access of their counselors to potential employers in the areas. Future research should include detailed examinations of why African American and American Indian clients experience low success outcomes, enhanced collection of earnings data, and more thorough examination of the success of the rural offices