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In her 2011 OAR-funded study, Hsu-Min Chiang, Ph.D., an assistant professor in autism spectrum disorders in the Teachers College at Columbia University, analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2 (NLTS2) to identify which factors predict that students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are most likely to be able to find a job after leaving high school.

NLTS2 is a 10-year-long study focusing on secondary school students receiving special education across the United States in all disability categories, including autism. It includes information about them, their secondary school experiences, and post-secondary outcomes in education and employment.

Using information collected in the NLTS2 about 830 students with autism, Dr. Chiang looked at their participation in employment. Because the number of students who held full-time jobs was too small, Dr. Chiang looked at students who had full-time jobs and those who had part-time jobs.

Findings

Among the students with autism completing high school in this study, 56 percent had worked in some form since leaving high school and 44 percent had not. The average age for both groups was 21. The average hourly wage was $7.90. The top five types of jobs held by those who worked were:

1. Material recording, scheduling, dispatching, and distribution (36.3 percent)
2. Information and record clerks (12.9 percent),
3. Building cleaning and pest control workers (8.5 percent)
4. Retail sales workers (5.2 percent)
5. Workers in other production occupations (5.1 percent)

Dr. Chiang found that individuals who worked differed significantly from those who did not on 16 variables:

1. Annual household income
2. Parents’ education
3. Parents’ attendance at their child’s IEP meetings
4. Parents’ expectations of their child’s participation in postsecondary employment
5. The person’s gender
6. Social skills
7. Self-care skills
8. Verbal skills
9. The presence of an intellectual disability
10. Whether the person had graduated from high school or not
11. High school academic performance
12. Whether the person had a paid job while in high school
13. Whether the person received career counseling during high school
14. Whether the person had participated in postsecondary education since leaving high school
15. Whether the person’s school planned for what the person would do after high school
16. Whether the person’s school contacted vocational training programs or potential employers

Her analysis found that eight of those variables were significantly predictive of the probability of students with autism finding work after high school:

1. Students from families with higher incomes are more likely to seek and find jobs.
2. Those whose parents have a bachelor’s degree or higher are more likely to work.
3. Women are more likely to find jobs than men.
4. Those with high social skills are more likely to have jobs.
5. Those without an intellectual disability are more likely to work.
6. Those with a high school diploma are more likely to be employed.
7. Those who receive career counseling are more likely to be employed.
8. Those whose schools do contact training programs/potential employers are more likely to find work after high school.

Conclusion

The finding that more than half of the students with autism who completed high school were employed is encouraging. However, the hourly average wage of $7.90 is quite low, below the 2007 minimum national mean hourly wage of $8.03. A 2012 study reported that participation in post-secondary education positively correlated to higher earnings while receiving on-the-job supports, job readiness training, and Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income benefits correlated to lower earnings.

The results of Dr. Chiang’s study as well as others show that students with autism who complete high school work in a wide range of jobs. Dr. Chiang’s analysis found 29 different paid jobs, including material recording, record clerks, building cleaning and pest control workers, retail sales, and workers in other production occupations.

Dr. Chiang’s findings suggest that parents and professionals who assist individuals with autism in finding paid jobs need not be constrained by the stereotyped thinking that suggests that individuals with autism can do only certain types of jobs due to their deficits. Instead, they may consider the interests and strengths of individuals with autism and explore possible job opportunities that match those interests and strengths.