Research Translated! Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2016

Watch our Research Translated! video about employment data! This national data helps us understand current employment trends and work on strategies to improve postsecondary outcomes for all deaf people.

 

Video Description:

[music]

 

[Video opens with series of icons playing in center, on white background.   It begins with two papers, morphing into a monitor that has the play video icon shown on monitor, and it ends with a person thinking different ideas, then it changes into a centered text that reads Research TRANSLATED! and NDC logo comes up in the bottom.]

 

[Text reads: “Research Translated!” in the center; there is a NDC logo below it with the letters “NDC” and in smaller letters below it: “National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes”, background is a light blue color. The screen swipes diagonally with teal and white colors then a new teal screen shows up with the text: “Employment Data” in white. The screen swipes diagonally and we see a Latina woman with a blue top stand in the middle of a white screen NDC logo animates with name popping across the woman at the bottom. Text reads: “Paloma Montemayor-Price”.]

People share varying statistics regarding employment rates for people who are deaf.  It ranges from 50% to 75% What is the actual employment rate?

 

[There are numbers inside boxes popping up next to the woman as she states the percentages “75%”, “70%” and “50%”. Then after she finishes narrating, the screen cuts to another teal background with the text: “What is the actual employment rate?” in white, with the word “actual” in bold.]

The actual employment rate may not apply to all deaf people.  For example, women, people of color, and those with additional disabilities may have a different experience.

 

[Video cuts to Paloma at center, with three rectangles showing up at the bottom. Each rectangle has text, starting from left to right; text reads: “Women”, “People of Color”, “Other Disabilities”]

 

[Teal colored background screen pushes downwards across the screen, and then white text appears that reads: “What kind of job experiences and goals do deaf people have?”]

 

[Video plays a series of deaf people, signing and speaking what they do for a living, in this order:

A signing deaf Asian female college student: “I want to be a Welder”

A speaking deaf white female: “Teacher.”

A signing deaf white male college student: “Personal trainer.”

A signing deaf black male college student: “Filmmaker.”

A speaking deafblind latina female: “Yoga Instructor”

A signing deaf Asian male college student: “Dentist.”

A signing deafblind white female: “Teach the DeafBlind.”

A signing deaf Latinx male college student: “Mechanic.”

A speaking deaf white female: “Researcher”

A signing deafdisabled White female: “Advocate.” ]

 

Welder.

Teacher.

Filmmaker.

Personal Trainer.

Yoga Instructor.

Dentist

Mechanic

Teacher for the DeafBlind

Researcher

Advocate

 

[Video cuts to teal colored screen with white text centered that reads “Let’s look at some national data”]

A University of Texas at Austin research team analyzed a sample collected from the US census bureau. The sample considers only people ages 21-65 or “working age” to exclude those retired and still pursuing education.

 

[Paloma reappears centered on white screen, then moves to left side, image of stenciled University of Texas Tower appears, on light colored dots, under a banner that reads “University of Texas”shows up on right side.  Paloma clears out the screen, moves to center, and a line is drawn across at the bottom that shows ends with two dots, one dot reads “Age 21”and the other dot at the end reads “Age 65”.  “Age 21”dot moves to the center of the black line, representing people below age of 21.]

 

[Teal screen appears, with white text centered that reads “How many people are employed in the United States?”]

 

[Paloma reappears on white screen, with two bar graphs, appearing one at a time. Bar graph appears on right side, that reads “Hearing”, “72 % hearing people have a JOB”, and second bar graph appears on left side, that reads “Deaf”, “48 % Deaf people have a JOB.”]

Using this data they pinpointed the actual unemployment rates for hearing individual and deaf people. 72 % of Hearing people are working whereas 48% of deaf people are working.

 

Of those not working, the federal government identified 2 categories. The first is unemployment meaning people who are actively searching for a job and need assistance. The second category is call Not in Labor Force and are those not interested in working meaning they may have retired early, be at home raising a family or seeking additional education.

 

[Paloma goes back to center, shifts to her left, black outlined rectangle appears on left side, with text inside that reads “UNEMPLOYED”, then she shifts to her right, black outlined rectangle appears on right with text inside that reads “NOT IN LABOR FORCE”.]

 

 [Teal screen appears with centered white text that reads: “How many people are unemployed?”.  White screen comes back with Paloma, black outlined rectangle with text inside that reads “UNEMPLOYED”appears at her right, and the rectangle moves up to upper left corner.  Text that reads “Deaf”appears at her right, and text that reads “Hearing”appears at her left side.  Under “Deaf”, text reads 4.6 % and text under “Hearing” reads 4.9 %.]

 

[Teal screen pushes upwards and shows white text centered that reads “How many people are NOT IN THE LABOR FORCE?”]

Recall that unemployment means actively searching for work. When considering the unemployment rates for the entire country there is not a large discrepancy between the general US hearing population and deaf people. 4.9 4.6.

 

[Video cuts back to white screen with Paloma, black outlined rectangle with text inside that reads “NOT IN THE LABOR FORCE” to her left, the rectangle moves upwards to upper right corner.  Text at each side of Paloma appears and reads “Deaf”and “Hearing” with 47 % appearing under Deaf and 23 % appearing under Hearing.]

 

[Video cuts to a pie chart split into three parts on white screen: text inside pie chart reads “48 %* and “47 %”.  48 % represents Deaf people who have a JOB and 47 % represents those who are not in the LABOR FORCE.  The third small part at the top of pie chart represents 4.6 % who are unemployed.]

Now remember that the Not in Labor force category includes people that are not in the job market or not actively seeking work.  In this category the numbers are drastically different.  23% of hearing people whereas 47 % of those deaf.

 

[The pie chart moves to left side and Paloma appears at right side.  The numbers and texts for pie chart disappears, all except for 47% that are not in the labor force.   A bracket is drawn around the right side of pie chart and a list appears that reads: “Women, Veterans, Native Americans, African Americans, Deaf Disabled.”]

There are 5 subcategories within the group, women, veterans, Native Americans, African Americans, deaf disabled.

 

Some of people may have been unsuccessful in finding employment or may have been unsatisfied with their work opportunities.  These people have a variety of experiences and reasons for not working.

 

[Teal screen appears with white text centered that reads: “Stories from the community”.  Same series of Deaf people from earlier plays different stories.  A elderly DeafBlind white female signs, and quoted text appears to her right that reads “….big challenge for me” The female appears frustrated, and she is in an outdoors scenery.  An Deafblind Latina appears to speak; quoted white text that reads “under a lot of stress” appears to the right of her.  An Asian signing male appears in an outdoor scenery, looking stressed with white text at his right that reads “time pressure”. A Black signing male appears in a lab setting with a black top, he has a serious face expression on, and text at his left appears that reads “struggled, so I quit…”.  A white signing DeafDisabled female appears wearing a red shirt that reads “Ohio”, in an outdoor setting, quoted white text appears at her right side that reads “last minute”.  A signing Asian female with long black hair and a light colored top shows up in a different setting, with white text appearing at her left that reads “because I am deaf and a girl”and video shifts back to the Asian male, with white text to his right that reads “accommodations too expensive”, then back to the black male with the quoted white text to left of him that reads: ‘lack of experience with deaf employees.”and shifts to the white male, with text to his left that reads: “fewer opportunities”.]

It’s a big challenge and quite frustrating.  A number of the barriers exist because the general public think Deaf Blind people aren’t able to do things.

 

I would be under a lot of stress, everything needs to be instantaneous. Communication needs to happen on the fly.

 

They didn’t know how best to communicate. For my employer and manager, writing messages was a struggle, so I quit.

 

When it comes to doing my last minute things, with my disability I can’t do last minute things.

 

They see that I’m Deaf and a girl, they think I can’t do the job.

 

Employers don’t want to pay the interpreting expenses because they’re costly.

 

Generally there’s a lack of experience working with deaf people.

 

There’s fewer opportunities.

 

[Teal screen comes next with white text centered that reads “How much do people earn?”]

 

[Video cuts to Paloma on white screen, black text on right side appears that reads “average salary: $52,000 for both deaf and hearing.” The number is slightly larger in text size.  Next screen is teal with white text centered that reads “What about the gender pay gap?”. ]

There is a misconception that deaf people earn less than their hearing counterparts. This actually isn’t true, the average salary for both groups working full time is $52,000.

 

[Video shifts to Paloma on white screen, on the right side, with image of dollars shacked downwards next to her.  One shorter stack represents Hearing female and reads “$0.82” and another stack of dollars that represents Hearing male and reads, “$1.00”.  New images of new stacks of dollars appear, one stack for Deaf Female and has text under stack that reads “$0.76”and the other stack for Deaf Male that has text underneath that reads “$1.00”. ]

 

[Next screen is teal with white text centered that reads, “How are employment experiences different for DeafDisabled people?”

Hearing females earn $.82 to every $1 that a hearing male earns.  Deaf females earn .76 compared to each $1 a deaf male earns.

 

[Next screen is teal with white text that reads, “How are employment experiences different for DeafDisabled people?”]

Being Deaf with an additional Disability you face more difficulties. If one has a physical disability, a visible disability, it frightens employers, and leads them to not hire the disabled person. If one has an invisible disability, such as ADHD or the like, the person with that type of disability normally doesn’t disclose that. But, when it is found out and realized the individual may need accommodations, and that can take more time.

 

[Teal screens moves downwards to show a signing white female DeafDisabled in red shirt, with see through teal half screen next to her right side. The half teal screen has animated white text playing, that reads “Being Deaf with an ADDITIONAL DISABILITY you face MORE difficulties”..  White text continues: “If one has a physical disability, a VISIBLE disability, it frightens employers…” White text continues: “and leads them to NOT HIRE the disabled person.”White text continues: “If one has an INVISIBLE DISABILITY, such as ADHD.”  White text continues: “the person with that type of disability normally DOESN’T disclose that.”  White text continues: “When the DISABILITY IS KNOWN, the individual may need accommodations, and that can take more time.”]

For me it wasn’t hard finding a job, it was more that I couldn’t keep the job.

 

[Video switches to the speaking DeafBlind Latina, with the see-through teal screen covering right half to the screen.  White text on teal part appears that reads: “It wasn’t hard finding a JOB, it was more that I couldn’t KEEP THE JOB.” Video moves onto a signing female DeafBlind, with the teal side still on, and has white text that reads, “Its HARD FINDING A JOB. NO JOKE.”]

It is hard finding a job, no joke.

 

[Video cuts to Paloma on white screen at the left side, with text and barograph appearing at right.  Black text reads “Deaf People without Additional Disability.” above the barograph, and next to the barograph, there’s black text that reads “63 % have a JOB.”  Paloma shifts to her right side, and black text appears at top on left side that reads “DeafDisabled”and bar graph raises from the bottom, to represent 32 %.  Paloma centers, and each bar graph reappears at both sides. ]

 

[Next screen is teal screen with white text centered that reads: “How are employment experiences different for People of Color?”]

Across the us there are discrepancies in pay  for people of color and this is true for people  who are deaf as well.

 

For example, people who are Latino work more that those who are white but they earn significantly less.

 

[Teal screen shifts upwards to show Paloma centered on white screen, then the video cuts to another white screen, this time a graph with numbers appear. It is a bar chart graph and percentages from 5% to 65% in ten percent intervals line up vertically on the left side of the screen. There is a title above the graph: “Employment Rates: Deaf Population” in black with the “Deaf population” in bold. The categories appear below the graph horizontally as the bars pop up: White, Latinx, Asian, Multi-racial, Native American, African American. ]

Deaf people have an employment rate of 63% whereas people that are deaf with additional disabilities are employed at a rate of 32% and earn less.

 

[Teal screen appears, with centered white text that reads: “So..what can we do?”  Paloma reappears centered on white screen. and it fades back into teal screen with white text centered that reads: “We’re here for you.  Let’s work together!” Scenes of different settings play with tint teal front, white centered text reads “Change the system…” White text continues, “and prepare deaf students for work opportunities…” Video shifts across Deaf people shown earlier in video, delivering messages of hope, ending on a positive note across their faces.

 

It’s important to understand that employment experiences are not the same for all people who are deaf.  Each has their own identity, experience and needs.  The community should address this diversity through support and collaboration.

 

Teal screen appears, with centered white text that reads: “Garberolio, Caution, & Bond (2016), Deaf People and Employment in the United States, National Center on Postsecondary Outcomes.” White text fades into another white text that reads, “NationalDeafCenter.org” with Facebook, twitter, instagram icons underneath text.

 

We hope to see the development of job training, the chance to apply for jobs, greater job opportunities for deaf people, the ability to show our skills, and greater communication access. Those are key.

 

[ The screen fades into a white background and the NDC logo is animated, with the words “National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes” appearing below it.]

 

[music fades]