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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Copyright 2023. Institute on Disability. University of New Hampshire.      

 

 

 

2023 Puerto Rico 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 Puerto Rico. 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 Puerto Rico, 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 Puerto Rico 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 Puerto Rico that are presented:

 

  • For people with disabilities: 
    • The employment rate for people with disabilities in Puerto Rico was 24.0%.
    • The range, also known as the difference between largest and smallest values, of employment rates for people with disabilities across Puerto Rico counties was 41.6%.
      • The county with the greatest employment rate for people with disabilities was Santa Isabel (41.6%).
      • The county with the smallest employment rate for people with disabilities was Culebra and Maricao (0.0%).
    • The median, also known as the middle-most, employment rate for people with disabilities across all counties in Puerto Rico was 17.7%.

 

  • For people without disabilities:
    • The employment rate for people without disabilities in Puerto Rico was 55.9%.
    • The range, also known as the difference between largest and smallest values, of employment rates for people without disabilities across Puerto Rico counties was 37.0%.
      • The county with the greatest employment rate for people without disabilities was Culebra (74.1%).
      • The county with the smallest employment rate for people without disabilities was Maunabo (37.1%).
    • The median, also known as the middle-most, employment rate for people without disabilities across all counties in Puerto Rico was 52.8%.

 

Employment of Civilians with and without Disabilities Ages 18 to 64 Years Living in the Community for Puerto Rico, by County: 2021
County Disability No Disability   County Disability No Disability
Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2] Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2]
 Puerto Rico   332,166 79,855 24.0 1,660,694 928,532 55.9     Dorado       2,634    534 20.3    19,679  11,290 57.4
   Adjuntas      1,601    220 13.7     9,307   3,904 41.9    Fajardo       3,005    617 20.5    16,052   9,054 56.4
    Aguada       5,646    938 16.6    18,373  10,235 55.7    Florida       1,187    304 25.6     6,014   3,182 52.9
  Aguadilla      6,111  1,198 19.6    26,151  12,705 48.6    Guayama       3,714    660 17.8    17,245   8,188 47.5
 Aguas Buenas    3,376  1,263 37.4    11,699   7,222 61.7   Guayanilla     1,159    122 10.5     9,518   4,032 42.4
   Aibonito      4,201  1,108 26.4    10,567   6,243 59.1    Guaynabo      9,527  3,557 37.3    45,294  29,788 65.8
   Arecibo       8,449  1,467 17.4    43,949  22,114 50.3     Gurabo       5,373  1,921 35.8    21,153  14,075 66.5
    Arroyo       1,956    266 13.6     7,654   3,190 41.7    Guánica      2,739    674 24.6     5,344   2,109 39.5
   Añasco       2,990    517 17.3    12,915   7,715 59.7    Hatillo       2,807    466 16.6    21,084  11,818 56.1
 Barceloneta     1,642    122  7.4    12,387   6,444 52.0  Hormigueros     1,266    386 30.5     7,584   4,362 57.5
 Barranquitas    2,680    311 11.6    15,160   7,823 51.6    Humacao       2,062    353 17.1    28,356  13,795 48.6
   Bayamón     21,299  6,953 32.6    87,338  56,586 64.8    Isabela       4,856    814 16.8    21,703  10,891 50.2
  Cabo Rojo      3,554    627 17.6    24,680  13,176 53.4     Jayuya       2,120    197  9.3     6,979   3,268 46.8
    Caguas      14,436  4,191 29.0    63,948  40,692 63.6  Juana Díaz     5,544  1,706 30.8    22,751  12,008 52.8
    Camuy        2,990    241  8.1    17,121   9,574 55.9     Juncos       4,251  1,115 26.2    19,400  11,278 58.1
  Canóvanas     4,020  1,160 28.9    22,789  13,001 57.0     Lajas        2,557    492 19.2    11,064   5,124 46.3
   Carolina     12,740  3,664 28.8    80,459  52,835 65.7     Lares        2,813    387 13.8    14,223   7,208 50.7
   Cataño       2,171    438 20.2    11,844   6,716 56.7  Las Marías       394      7  1.8     4,804   2,270 47.3
    Cayey        7,376  1,746 23.7    18,309  11,207 61.2  Las Piedras     1,694    101  6.0    20,409  10,615 52.0
    Ceiba          341     17  5.0     6,427   3,561 55.4     Loíza       2,014    268 13.3    12,803   6,904 53.9
    Ciales       2,170    315 14.5     8,035   3,216 40.0    Luquillo      2,195    542 24.7     8,542   4,727 55.3
    Cidra        7,278  1,812 24.9    17,705  10,799 61.0    Manatí       3,373    400 11.9    19,899  10,141 51.0
    Coamo        6,006  1,975 32.9    16,005   8,559 53.5    Maricao         205      0  0.0     3,024   1,408 46.6
   Comerío      2,791    485 17.4     8,960   4,948 55.2    Maunabo         584      8  1.4     5,687   2,109 37.1
   Corozal       3,810    560 14.7    17,322   8,832 51.0   Mayagüez      6,254  1,341 21.4    37,237  16,470 44.2
   Culebra          19      0  0.0       753     558 74.1      Moca        3,778    798 21.1    19,640   9,417 47.9
Employment of Civilians with and without Disabilities Ages 18 to 64 Years Living in the Community for Puerto Rico, by County: 2021
County Disability No Disability   County Disability No Disability
Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2] Total Employed % [1] Total Employed % [2]
   Morovis       3,489    538 15.4    14,942   7,876 52.7     Yauco        5,692  1,731 30.4    14,810   7,170 48.4
   Naguabo         790      2  0.3    13,600   5,996 44.1                                                          
  Naranjito      3,870    705 18.2    13,785   6,724 48.8                                                          
   Orocovis      2,717    219  8.1    10,582   4,555 43.0                                                          
   Patillas        503     55 10.9     9,158   3,937 43.0                                                          
  Peñuelas      1,543     89  5.8    11,084   5,383 48.6                                                          
    Ponce       14,130  2,714 19.2    64,758  31,866 49.2                                                          
 Quebradillas    2,197    227 10.3    12,249   6,597 53.9                                                          
   Rincón       1,671    540 32.3     7,196   4,392 61.0                                                          
 Río Grande     4,846  1,238 25.5    24,137  14,862 61.6                                                          
Sabana Grande    3,629  1,310 36.1     9,574   4,516 47.2                                                          
   Salinas       3,409    979 28.7    12,217   6,736 55.1                                                          
 San Germán     1,359     19  1.4    16,931   6,859 40.5                                                          
   San Juan     27,857  8,572 30.8   175,887 108,063 61.4                                                          
 San Lorenzo     2,627    150  5.7    20,904  10,980 52.5                                                          
San Sebastián   3,999    989 24.7    18,779   9,412 50.1                                                          
 Santa Isabel    3,360  1,397 41.6     9,528   6,029 63.3                                                          
   Toa Alta      5,446  1,364 25.0    39,005  23,773 60.9                                                          
   Toa Baja      8,818  3,108 35.2    38,054  24,431 64.2                                                          
Trujillo Alto    5,982  2,048 34.2    35,928  24,920 69.4                                                          
    Utuado       2,875    297 10.3    13,988   5,781 41.3                                                          
  Vega Alta      3,896    632 16.2    17,686   9,948 56.2                                                          
  Vega Baja      5,152    897 17.4    27,931  14,801 53.0                                                          
   Vieques         520     58 11.2     4,336   1,918 44.2                                                          
   Villalba      2,537    581 22.9    11,063   5,428 49.1                                                          
   Yabucoa       1,494     32  2.1    17,237   8,193 47.5                                                          
Count of Employed Civilians with Disabilities Ages 18 to 64 Years Living in the Community for Puerto Rico, by County: 2021

Employment Rate for Civilians with Disabilities Ages 18 to 64 Years Living in the Community for Puerto Rico, 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