2015 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, Adam Lavoie, Rachel Coleman, Kate Filanoski, Karen Volle, and Anna Brennan-Curry.

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 90RTGE0001-01-00; and the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Employment Policy and Measurement (EPM-RRTC), also funded by NIDILRR, grant number 90RT5037-03-00. The information developed by the StatsRRTC and EPM-RRTC 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 and EPM-RRTC are 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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2015 Florida 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

The State Reports for County-Level Data on Employment are designed to provide the users of disability statistics with the employed count and employment rate for civilians with disabilities, ages 18 to 64 years and living in the community, for any given state and county in the United States (U.S.). This report 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. The State Reports for County-Level Data on Employment can be used to compare county-level statistics between counties in any given state or states. The following report provides county-level statistics for Florida.

The proportion of the civilian non-institutionalized population with disabilities who are employed, sometimes called the employment rate or employment-to-population ratio, presented in the State Reports for County-Level Data is a useful tool for advocates, researchers, and policy-makers to plan and provide services and supports for the employment of people with disabilities. 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 maps.

The data for this report come from the American Community Survey 5-year data. The American Community Survey (ACS) is a national survey developed by the U.S. Census Bureau to provide information on a number of topics about social, economic, and demographic characteristics of the U.S. population. ACS 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. All of the statistics in this report use the ACS 5-year data which includes data from 2015, the year of the report, and data from the four previous years. 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. 

Specific to Florida, the state chosen for this report, sentences providing interpretation and context for employment statistics are included on the following page. A short glossary of terms is also provided at the end of the report explaining the statistics that are illustrated in each sentence.

Additional Resources. The Annual Disability Statistics Compendium and its complement, the Annual Disability Statistics Supplement, are summaries of statistics about people with disabilities, available both in hard copy and online at https://www.disabilitycompendium.org

Help navigating any of the resources described here can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions section at https://www.disabilitycompendium.org/faq. Assistance interpreting and locating additional statistics is available via our toll-free number, 866.538.9521, or by email, disability.statistics@unh.edu. For more information about our research projects, please visit https://www.researchondisability.org.

Suggested Citation. Boege, S.L., Lauer, E.A., & Houtenville, A.J., 2019. 2015 State Report for Florida County-Level Data: Employment. Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability.

Interpretation

The following statements are designed to help understand the 2015 county-level employment statistics from Florida that are presented:

 

  • For people with disabilities:
    • The employment rate for people with disabilities in Florida was 30.2%.
    • The range, also known as the difference between largest and smallest values, of employment rates for people with disabilities across Florida counties was 34.8%.
      • The county with the greatest employment rate for people with disabilities was Franklin (43.4%).
      • The county with the smallest employment rate for people with disabilities was Lafayette (8.6%).
    • The median, also known as the middle-most, employment rate for people with disabilities across all counties in Florida was 28.5%.

 

  • For people without disabilities:
    • The employment rate for people without disabilities in Florida was 72.5%.
    • The range, also known as the difference between largest and smallest values, of employment rates for people without disabilities across Florida counties was 22.9%.
      • The county with the greatest employment rate for people without disabilities was Wakulla (77.7%).
      • The county with the smallest employment rate for people without disabilities was Sumter (54.8%).
    • The median, also known as the middle-most, employment rate for people without disabilities across all counties in Florida was 70.1%.
Employment of Civilians with and without Disabilities Ages 18 to 64 Years Living in the Community for Florida, by County: 2015
County Disability No Disability   County Disability No Disability
Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2] Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2]
  Florida    1,174,949 355,209 30.2 10,542,879 7,643,572 72.5   Hernando      14,403   3,028 21.0     78,716    51,452 65.4
  Alachua       13,587   4,316 31.8    162,740   106,993 65.7  Highlands       6,740   1,421 21.1     40,764    26,749 65.6
   Baker         2,287     684 29.9     12,551     9,020 71.9 Hillsborough    80,624  26,465 32.8    745,588   554,760 74.4
    Bay         15,871   5,677 35.8     90,432    67,356 74.5    Holmes        1,879     538 28.6      8,424     5,210 61.8
  Bradford       2,316     610 26.3     11,799     7,995 67.8 Indian River     8,225   2,154 26.2     66,349    46,104 69.5
  Brevard       37,336   9,959 26.7    286,924   202,969 70.7   Jackson        4,470   1,248 27.9     19,941    13,256 66.5
  Broward       94,579  32,448 34.3  1,064,520   805,934 75.7  Jefferson         991     314 31.7      5,725     4,187 73.1
  Calhoun        1,426     356 25.0      5,742     4,017 70.0  Lafayette         591      51  8.6      3,453     2,524 73.1
 Charlotte      13,018   3,701 28.4     67,391    46,332 68.8     Lake        19,159   6,039 31.5    147,561   106,300 72.0
   Citrus       11,758   2,376 20.2     57,689    36,894 64.0     Lee         37,770  10,547 27.9    326,660   229,289 70.2
    Clay        13,464   4,320 32.1    105,737    77,388 73.2     Leon        15,590   6,052 38.8    180,213   128,009 71.0
  Collier       13,329   4,435 33.3    165,530   121,697 73.5     Levy         4,076   1,006 24.7     18,666    12,383 66.3
  Columbia       5,559   1,472 26.5     31,930    22,390 70.1   Liberty          863     246 28.5      3,547     2,432 68.6
   DeSoto        2,256     465 20.6     17,123    11,148 65.1   Madison        2,299     723 31.4      7,630     5,043 66.1
   Dixie         1,841     356 19.3      6,384     4,139 64.8   Manatee       18,385   5,435 29.6    170,329   123,762 72.7
   Duval        65,138  21,722 33.3    496,994   367,323 73.9    Marion       25,726   5,386 20.9    148,967   100,279 67.3
  Escambia      21,885   6,522 29.8    158,260   116,649 73.7    Martin        8,062   2,795 34.7     72,024    52,429 72.8
  Flagler        7,053   1,972 28.0     47,128    31,846 67.6  Miami-Dade    119,188  34,876 29.3  1,556,184 1,109,329 71.3
  Franklin       1,127     489 43.4      4,538     3,462 76.3    Monroe        4,856   1,870 38.5     43,079    33,156 77.0
  Gadsden        4,260     927 21.8     22,562    14,954 66.3    Nassau        6,040   1,920 31.8     39,190    27,214 69.4
 Gilchrist       1,816     575 31.7      7,596     5,165 68.0   Okaloosa      12,706   4,684 36.9     97,902    74,574 76.2
   Glades        1,013     167 16.5      5,355     3,346 62.5  Okeechobee      2,764     775 28.0     18,224    11,604 63.7
    Gulf         1,422     411 28.9      6,989     4,887 69.9    Orange       66,649  22,388 33.6    744,315   558,785 75.1
  Hamilton       1,319     384 29.1      4,991     3,294 66.0   Osceola       22,457   6,580 29.3    164,219   118,192 72.0
   Hardee        1,139     220 19.3     13,594     8,806 64.8  Palm Beach     58,207  20,198 34.7    731,373   546,956 74.8
   Hendry        2,831     861 30.4     18,800    13,097 69.7    Pasco        35,773   9,003 25.2    235,539   166,836 70.8
Employment of Civilians with and without Disabilities Ages 18 to 64 Years Living in the Community for Florida, by County: 2015
County Disability No Disability   County Disability No Disability
Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2] Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2]
  Pinellas      61,855  18,984 30.7    495,140   372,377 75.2                                                              
    Polk        44,621  12,249 27.5    311,564   217,477 69.8                                                              
   Putnam        6,383   1,188 18.6     34,424    21,290 61.8                                                              
 Santa Rosa     11,802   3,677 31.2     81,861    60,104 73.4                                                              
  Sarasota      20,549   5,568 27.1    180,432   132,637 73.5                                                              
  Seminole      21,893   6,944 31.7    258,528   192,436 74.4                                                              
 St. Johns      10,474   3,584 34.2    115,244    85,852 74.5                                                              
 St. Lucie      21,610   5,849 27.1    140,717    98,270 69.8                                                              
   Sumter        4,930     835 16.9     31,392    17,189 54.8                                                              
  Suwannee       3,830     814 21.3     20,717    13,585 65.6                                                              
   Taylor        2,065     568 27.5      8,423     5,970 70.9                                                              
   Union           807     168 20.8      5,097     3,643 71.5                                                              
  Volusia       37,596  10,665 28.4    257,252   174,381 67.8                                                              
  Wakulla        2,721     941 34.6     14,419    11,206 77.7                                                              
   Walton        5,416   1,530 28.2     29,113    21,944 75.4                                                              
 Washington      2,274     478 21.0     10,675     7,296 68.3                                                              
                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                           
Count of Employed Civilians with Disabilities Ages 18 to 64 Years Living in the Community for Florida, by County: 2015

Employment Rate for Civilians with Disabilities Ages 18 to 64 Years Living in the Community for Florida, by County: 2015

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 90RTGE00010100, from 2018–2023.

Employment Policy and Measurement Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (EPM-RRTC)

Led by the University of New Hampshire, the EPM-RRTC is a collaborative effort involving the following partners: Association of University Centers on Disability, Hunter College, Kessler Foundation, Mathematica Policy Research, and the University of Chicago.

The EPM-RRTC 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 90RT503701, from 2015–2020.

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