The Effects of a Disability on Labor Market Performance: The Case of Epilepsy

In 1985, 14% of the civilian non-institutional population in the U.S., reported they had an activity limitation.' Having a disability is therefore not an uncommon event, yet there are relatively few empirical studies which examine the effect of a disability on labor market performance.2 This study examines educational attainment, probability of employment, and wages for one group of disabled individuals: people with epilepsy. To determine the impact of a disability on labor market performance two issues seem particularly relevant. First, it is important to control for the severity of a health limitation because the effects of a disorder may not be uniform across levels of impairment. Second, while having a disability and the severity of the disability are exogenous to the individual, measuring the wage effects of activity limitations can be greatly affected by the employment and educational choices disabled individuals make.