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This article examines wage discrimination during the initial stages of employment using panel data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Women with disabilities are twice disadvantaged in the labor market: They face possible discrimination based on both gender and disability status. This article focuses on transitions into new employment. Two key variables indicate the circumstances in which a woman starts working at a new employer: (a) a planned employment transition or (b) finding employment after leaving a former employer for an unplanned reason or after being unemployed. The empirical evidence suggests that wage discrimination is prevalent; discrimination occurs across personal and employment characteristics. Although employment transitions resulted in lower wages, reasonable scenarios that involve personal choices as opposed to discrimination could not be eliminated. For instance, a worker with disabilities may change employers and accept a lower wage if she gains nonwage benefits (e.g., accommodations or health insurance).
Until the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), in 1990, most workers could be fired, not hired, paid lower wages, or denied promotions because of a disability. Women with disabilities were particularly vulnerable to discrimination because employers could wrap their prejudices concerning gender and disabilities together; a woman could easily incur an adverse employment event while the employer claimed it was because of her disability.
From the late 1980s through the present, the trend in the United States has been toward greater acceptance of the abilities of workers with disabilities. If workers with disabilities are given the proper resources (e.g., accommodations), they are able to work productively and become self-sufficient. This is referred to as the empowerment or participatory decision-making model. If obstacles did not exist, people with disabilities would be as productive as other employees. The empowerment model led to other models that focus on removing obstacles. For instance, the technology model focuses on ways to overcome physical obstacles; research on the effect of assistive devices and wheelchair friendliness (or other accommodations) on successful outcomes would be included in this model (Turnbull & Stowe, 2001).
The empowerment model assumes a level playing field and, therefore, is often associated with antidiscrimination policies. A person cannot become self-sufficient, even with the removal of physical barriers, if the social obstacles remain. As with antidiscrimination...