2023 State Report for County-Level Data: Employment

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the following individuals who have contributed to the success of this effort: Deb Brucker, Erin Dame, Kate Filanoski, Kim Phillips, Karen Volle, Romy Eberle and Toni Sumner-Beebe.

Funding for this publication is made possible by:

The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics and Demographics (StatsRRTC), funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Community Living National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), grant number 90RTGE0001. The information developed by the StatsRRTC does not necessarily represent the policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government (Edgar, 75.620 (b)).

The StatsRRTC is a part of the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire. The Institute on Disability/UCED (IOD) was established in 1987 to provide a university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of people with disabilities and their families and is New Hampshire’s University Center for Excellence in Disability (UCED). Located within the University of New Hampshire, the IOD is a federally designated center authorized by the Developmental Disabilities Act. Through innovative and interdisciplinary research, academic, service, and dissemination initiatives, the IOD builds local, state, and national capacities to respond to the needs of individuals with disabilities and their families.

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2023 Kentucky Report for County-Level Data: Employment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on

Disability Statistics and Demographics

A NIDILRR-Funded Center

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Introduction

Overview. Statistics are a powerful tool in research, policymaking, program evaluation, and advocacy. They are used to frame issues, monitor current circumstances and progress, judge the effectiveness of policies and programs, make projections about the future, and predict the costs of potential policy changes.

In the United States, disability statistics – information about the population with disabilities and about the government programs that serve people with disabilities - are often difficult to find. Numerous government agencies generate and publish disability statistics, and as a result, the data are scattered across various federal government documents and websites.

The Annual Disability Statistics State Reports for County-Level Data, one of the five publications included in the Institute on Disability’s Annual Disability Statistics Collection – referred to as “the Collection” – is a summary of statistics about people with disabilities and about the government programs which serve them. The State Reports for County-Level Data provides county-level prevalence, employment, and poverty statistics for each state. 

Additional publications included in the Collection are: 

  • The Annual Disability Statistics Compendium, available both in hard copy and online (at www.disabilitycompendium.org), presents key overall statistics on topics including the prevalence of disability, employment among persons with disabilities, rates of participation in disability income and social insurance programs, and other statistics. 
  • The Annual Disability Statistics Supplement covers 150 additional tables that analyze the content found in the Compendium by age, gender, and race/ethnicity. 
  • The Annual Report on People with Disabilities in America, which graphically represents trends of key statistics from the Compendium.  
  • Infographics in the Collection are curated through partnerships with organizations that specialize in the intersectionality of disability with other identities.  
  • The Annual Disability Statistics Standard Errors Companion, new to the Collection this year, details the standard errors of percent and standard errors of frequency for applicable tables in the Compendium. 

All publications are available online at https://disabilitycompendium.org. The Annual Report on People with Disabilities in America and the infographics are also available in print format. 

The State Reports for County-Level Data on Employment is intended to be an online complement to Section 2: Employment of the Annual Disability Statistics Compendium and Annual Disability Statistics Supplement, providing greater detail within each state. This report can be used to compare county-level statistics between counties in any given state or states. 

The following report provides county-level statistics for Kentucky. In this report, the employment of people with disabilities is presented as the number of employed civilians with disabilities, ages 18 to 64 years and living in the community, in a given state and county per total state and county populations, respectively. Counts and percentages (the employment rate) are provided in tables and map.

Specific to Kentucky, the state chosen for this report, sentences providing interpretation and context for prevalence statistics are included in the Interpretation section. A short glossary of terms is also provided at the end of the report explaining the statistics that are illustrated in each sentence.

Notes on the data. The State Reports for County-Level Data on Employment is composed of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year data. We used the most recent data wherever available.

ACS 5-year includes data from 2021 and data from the four previous years. 5-year data is collected over a longer period of time than 1-year data, providing larger sample sizes and increased reliability for less populated areas and small population subgroups.

In the ACS, people are identified as having a disability based on responses to a series of six questions asking about having difficulties with vision, hearing, ambulation, cognition, self-care, and independent living (see glossary for further details). 

In the ACS, people are also asked a series of questions designed to identify their employment status. Based on the answers, individuals were classified into one of five groups:

  • People who worked at any time during the reference week;
  • People on temporary layoff who were available for work;
  • People who did not work during the reference week but who had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent (excluding layoff);
  • People who did not work during the reference week, but who were looking for work during the last four weeks and were available for work during the reference week; and
  • People not in the labor force. 

In the ACS, people are identified as being employed if they responded as having worked during the past week.

Exploring other topics. The UNH Institute on Disability is dedicated to thorough research and has explored topics such as understanding the factors associated with the health disparities experienced by people with intellectual disabilities through the Health Disparities Project (https://iod.unh.edu/health-disparities-project) and career self-management through job crafting for people with physical and mild cognitive disabilities (https://iod.unh.edu/career-self-management-through-job-crafting-people-physical-mild-cognitive-disabilities). 

Additional Resources. A companion Annual Report is available, providing graphical representations of key findings. The Annual Report highlights trend data related to specific tables in the Compendium and Supplement. The statistics presented here, as well as those in the Compendium, Supplement, and Annual Report, can be viewed and downloaded at https://disabilitycompendium.org/.

Help navigating any of the resources described here can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions section at https://disabilitycompendium.org/faq. Assistance interpreting and locating additional statistics is available via our toll-free number, 866-538-9521, or by email at disability.statistics@unh.edu. For more information about our research projects, please visit https://www.researchondisability.org.

Suggested Citation. Paul, S., Rogers, S., Bach, S., & Houtenville, A. (2023). 2023 State Report for Kentucky County-Level Data: Employment. Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability.

Interpretation

The following statements are designed to help understand the 2021 county-level employment statistics from Kentucky that are presented:

 

  • For people with disabilities: 
    • The employment rate for people with disabilities in Kentucky was 32.3%.
    • The range, also known as the difference between largest and smallest values, of employment rates for people with disabilities across Kentucky counties was 54.8%.
      • The county with the greatest employment rate for people with disabilities was Lyon (65.2%).
      • The county with the smallest employment rate for people with disabilities was Wolfe (10.4%).
    • The median, also known as the middle-most, employment rate for people with disabilities across all counties in Kentucky was 29.2%.

 

  • For people without disabilities:
    • The employment rate for people without disabilities in Kentucky was 76.5%.
    • The range, also known as the difference between largest and smallest values, of employment rates for people without disabilities across Kentucky counties was 39.3%.
      • The county with the greatest employment rate for people without disabilities was Woodford (84.0%).
      • The county with the smallest employment rate for people without disabilities was Wolfe (44.7%).
    • The median, also known as the middle-most, employment rate for people without disabilities across all counties in Kentucky was 73.1%.

 

Employment of Civilians with and without Disabilities Ages 18 to 64 Years Living in the Community for Kentucky, by County: 2021
County Disability No Disability   County Disability No Disability
Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2] Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2]
  Kentucky   426,523 137,580 32.3 2,255,186 1,724,192 76.5     Clay       3,939     546 13.9     7,866     4,673 59.4
   Adair       1,980     539 27.2     9,432     6,462 68.5   Clinton      1,068     323 30.2     4,413     2,948 66.8
   Allen       2,073     678 32.7    10,016     7,190 71.8  Crittenden    1,655     697 42.1     3,349     2,448 73.1
  Anderson     2,873     945 32.9    11,382     9,075 79.7  Cumberland      496     148 29.8     2,923     2,026 69.3
  Ballard        593     189 31.9     3,878     2,758 71.1   Daviess      8,059   2,945 36.5    50,646    40,652 80.3
   Barren      5,693   1,575 27.7    20,111    14,800 73.6   Edmonson     1,463     365 24.9     5,841     3,869 66.2
    Bath       1,749     400 22.9     5,530     4,050 73.2   Elliott        910     205 22.5     2,367     1,477 62.4
    Bell       3,575     527 14.7    10,792     6,038 55.9    Estill      2,387     447 18.7     5,940     4,212 70.9
   Boone       7,973   3,608 45.3    72,648    60,442 83.2   Fayette     22,414   9,907 44.2   185,091   147,325 79.6
  Bourbon      1,817     572 31.5     9,960     7,665 77.0   Fleming      1,929     631 32.7     6,768     4,864 71.9
    Boyd       6,375   1,920 30.1    21,077    15,100 71.6    Floyd       5,287     590 11.2    15,842     9,558 60.3
   Boyle       2,441     649 26.6    15,070    11,180 74.2   Franklin     4,579   1,824 39.8    26,267    21,015 80.0
  Bracken        809     256 31.6     4,149     3,107 74.9    Fulton        727     136 18.7     2,643     1,849 70.0
 Breathitt     2,715     660 24.3     5,717     3,527 61.7   Gallatin       774     192 24.8     4,577     3,437 75.1
Breckinridge   2,270     482 21.2     9,367     6,844 73.1   Garrard      1,758     596 33.9     8,508     6,477 76.1
  Bullitt      6,676   2,477 37.1    43,956    35,842 81.5    Grant       2,370     878 37.0    12,069     9,913 82.1
   Butler      1,207     280 23.2     5,998     4,334 72.3    Graves      4,068   1,036 25.5    16,965    13,263 78.2
  Caldwell     1,714     910 53.1     5,359     4,086 76.2   Grayson      2,654     734 27.7    12,496     9,089 72.7
  Calloway     3,843   1,544 40.2    20,186    14,941 74.0    Green       1,901     337 17.7     4,623     3,349 72.4
  Campbell     5,770   2,233 38.7    52,042    42,273 81.2   Greenup      3,931   1,126 28.6    16,582    12,062 72.7
  Carlisle       353     112 31.7     2,352     1,564 66.5   Hancock        974     394 40.5     4,278     3,316 77.5
  Carroll        958     317 33.1     5,103     3,985 78.1    Hardin      9,467   3,505 37.0    53,640    40,686 75.9
   Carter      3,093     626 20.2    12,336     7,497 60.8    Harlan      4,444     661 14.9    11,065     5,975 54.0
   Casey       1,461     241 16.5     7,264     4,782 65.8   Harrison     1,928     565 29.3     9,081     7,260 79.9
 Christian     6,201   1,904 30.7    28,902    19,987 69.2     Hart       2,143     553 25.8     9,033     6,784 75.1
   Clark       3,766   1,436 38.1    17,966    14,200 79.0  Henderson     5,786   1,965 34.0    20,190    16,347 81.0
Employment of Civilians with and without Disabilities Ages 18 to 64 Years Living in the Community for Kentucky, by County: 2021
County Disability No Disability   County Disability No Disability
Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2] Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2]
   Henry       1,645     462 28.1     7,615     5,579 73.3    Mason       1,773     374 21.1     8,110     6,084 75.0
  Hickman        505     270 53.5     1,989     1,408 70.8  McCracken     5,193   1,672 32.2    33,099    25,223 76.2
  Hopkins      6,387   2,444 38.3    19,770    14,631 74.0   McCreary     2,204     308 14.0     7,030     4,222 60.1
  Jackson      2,051     462 22.5     5,665     3,300 58.3    McLean      1,173     441 37.6     4,049     2,906 71.8
 Jefferson    57,290  21,585 37.7   419,121   339,273 80.9    Meade       3,395     984 29.0    14,515    11,138 76.7
 Jessamine     3,907   1,336 34.2    28,216    21,890 77.6   Menifee        795     171 21.5     2,742     1,784 65.1
  Johnson      3,587     501 14.0     9,585     6,527 68.1    Mercer      1,869     544 29.1    11,355     8,577 75.5
   Kenton     12,069   5,054 41.9    91,111    76,330 83.8   Metcalfe     1,268     366 28.9     4,645     3,583 77.1
   Knott       2,588     408 15.8     6,300     3,429 54.4    Monroe      1,408     390 27.7     5,146     4,127 80.2
    Knox       3,523     666 18.9    14,420     7,753 53.8  Montgomery    3,099     853 27.5    13,542     9,671 71.4
   Larue       1,737     582 33.5     7,099     5,741 80.9    Morgan      1,933     381 19.7     5,394     3,387 62.8
   Laurel      6,313   1,595 25.3    30,578    21,556 70.5  Muhlenberg    4,140   1,018 24.6    13,464     9,809 72.9
  Lawrence     2,096     301 14.4     7,203     3,903 54.2    Nelson      3,959   1,567 39.6    23,796    19,264 81.0
    Lee        1,081     209 19.3     2,933     2,044 69.7   Nicholas       835     185 22.2     3,635     2,604 71.6
   Leslie      1,602     410 25.6     4,640     2,854 61.5     Ohio       2,015     593 29.4    11,781     8,861 75.2
  Letcher      3,836     839 21.9     8,848     5,440 61.5    Oldham      3,171   1,613 50.9    35,191    28,773 81.8
   Lewis       1,350     230 17.0     6,237     3,567 57.2     Owen         952     294 30.9     5,598     4,212 75.2
  Lincoln      2,105     449 21.3    11,819     8,670 73.4    Owsley        880     180 20.5     1,460       698 47.8
 Livingston    1,524     660 43.3     3,629     2,653 73.1  Pendleton     1,635     647 39.6     7,145     5,583 78.1
   Logan       2,165     798 36.9    13,413     9,917 73.9    Perry       5,047   1,269 25.1    11,694     8,074 69.0
    Lyon       1,214     792 65.2     2,822     2,039 72.3     Pike       9,452   1,205 12.7    25,692    16,424 63.9
  Madison      8,568   3,294 38.4    51,168    37,970 74.2    Powell      1,484     280 18.9     6,166     4,195 68.0
  Magoffin     2,222     319 14.4     4,809     2,714 56.4   Pulaski      6,470   1,806 27.9    31,150    22,487 72.2
   Marion      2,237     569 25.4     8,612     6,693 77.7  Robertson       142      25 17.6     1,147       764 66.6
  Marshall     3,255     993 30.5    14,690    11,460 78.0  Rockcastle    2,124     475 22.4     7,466     5,284 70.8
   Martin      1,837     313 17.0     4,304     2,704 62.8    Rowan       2,133     731 34.3    14,140     9,539 67.5
Employment of Civilians with and without Disabilities Ages 18 to 64 Years Living in the Community for Kentucky, by County: 2021
County Disability No Disability   County Disability No Disability
Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2] Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2]
  Russell      2,082     833 40.0     8,006     5,878 73.4                                                           
   Scott       4,255   1,970 46.3    30,764    25,036 81.4                                                           
   Shelby      3,262   1,483 45.5    25,068    20,393 81.4                                                           
  Simpson      1,702     522 30.7     9,463     7,080 74.8                                                           
  Spencer      1,551     652 42.0    10,541     8,497 80.6                                                           
   Taylor      2,871     891 31.0    12,171     9,219 75.7                                                           
    Todd         970     356 36.7     5,831     4,147 71.1                                                           
   Trigg       1,745     828 47.4     5,990     4,195 70.0                                                           
  Trimble        935     350 37.4     4,251     3,230 76.0                                                           
   Union       2,183     904 41.4     6,671     4,887 73.3                                                           
   Warren     10,634   4,570 43.0    74,217    58,980 79.5                                                           
 Washington    1,153     267 23.2     5,825     4,674 80.2                                                           
   Wayne       2,343     627 26.8     9,117     6,051 66.4                                                           
  Webster      2,328     917 39.4     5,172     3,904 75.5                                                           
  Whitley      4,667   1,196 25.6    16,636    11,499 69.1                                                           
   Wolfe       1,571     163 10.4     2,263     1,011 44.7                                                           
  Woodford     1,939     752 38.8    13,796    11,590 84.0                                                           
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                     
Count of Employed Civilians with Disabilities Ages 18 to 64 Years Living in the Community for Kentucky, by County: 2021

Employment Rate for Civilians with Disabilities Ages 18 to 64 Years Living in the Community for Kentucky, by County: 2021

Discussion

There are a number of concepts and factors which complicate the interpretation of the estimates presented in this report. These concerns affect all statistics from population-based surveys. The estimates included in this document should be interpreted the following limitations in mind and generalized with caution. In each point, a link to the U.S. Census Bureau website describing the limitation or concept in greater detail in the ACS has been provided.

Additional links to resources for the ACS:

Glossary

American Community Survey (ACS) — The American Community Survey is a large, continuous demographic survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau that will provide accurate and up-to-date profiles of America’s communities every year. Annual and multiyear estimates of population and housing data are generated for small areas, including tracts and population subgroups. This information is collected by mailing questionnaires to a sample of addresses. See the U.S. Census Bureau website for additional details.

The Six Disability Questions in the American Community Survey:

  1. Is this person deaf or does he/she have serious difficulty hearing? (yes or no)
  2. Is this person blind or does he/she have serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses? (yes or no)
  3. (If person 5 years old or over) Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does this person have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions? (yes or no)
  4. (If person 5 years or old over) Does this person have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs? (yes or no)
  5. (If person 5 years old or over) Does this person have difficulty dressing or bathing? (yes or no)
  6. (If person 15 years old or over) Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does this person have difficulty doing errands alone such as visiting a doctor’s office or shopping? (yes or no)

Average — The sum of all of the values in a sample divided by the number of values in the sample.

Civilian — A person not in active-duty military.

Employed – Individuals were asked a series of questions designed to identify their employment status. Based on the answers, individuals were classified into one of five groups:

  1. People who worked at any time during the reference week;
  2. People on temporary layoff who were available for work;
  3. People who did not work during the reference week but who had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent (excluding layoff);
  4. People who did not work during the reference week, but who were looking for work during the last four weeks and were available for work during the reference week; and
  5. People not in the labor force.

People who responded as having worked during the past week were considered "employed".

Employment Rate — The number of individuals that are employed as a percent of the civilian non-institutional population.

Living in the Community – A person lives in the community, if the person is not living in an institution, such as jail, prison, nursing home, and hospital. A college dormitory is not considered an institution.

Median — The middle-most value of a sample that separates the upper half of the values from the lower half of the values. 

Non-Institutionalized Population — Describes individuals who are residing in the community and who are not living in institutions such as jails, prisons, nursing homes, hospitals, etc.

Population — The total number of inhabitants in a defined geographic area including all races, classes, and groups.

Range — The difference between the largest and smallest values in a sample. In a sample, when the smallest value is subtracted from the largest value the resulting value is called the range. 

Sampling Variability — The variation of a statistic when estimated from repeated samples.

United States Census Bureau — An agency within the United States Federal Statistical System tasked with producing data about the American people and economy. Their primary task is to conduct the United States Census every ten years.

About the Center

Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics and Demographics (StatsRRTC)

Led by the University of New Hampshire, the StatsRRTC is a collaborative effort involving the following partners: American Association of People with Disabilities, Center for Essential Management Services, Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation, Kessler Foundation, Mathematica Policy Research, and Public Health Institute.

The StatsRRTC is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living, National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research under grant number 90RTGE0001, from 2018–2023.

Contact Information
University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability
10 West Edge Drive, Suite 101
Durham, NH 03824
Toll-Free Telephone/TTY: 866-538-9521
E-mail: Disability.Statistics@unh.edu
https://www.researchondisability.org