Competitive Employment
Competitive Employment is when all the following is met:
- Work is performed on a full-time or part-time basis
- The individual is compensated at least minimum wage, or is not less than the customary rate paid by the employer for the same or similar work performed by other employees who do not have a disability
- The individual is eligible for the level of benefits provided to other full-time and part-time employees
- The job is considered integrated, which means that it occurs at a location where the individual interacts with persons without disabilities to the same extent possible who are not receiving home and community-based waiver services.
Reporting Period 2021 shows that there were 5,553 people working in 5,784 jobs classified as Competitive Employment. This is a 21% increase in the number of people working in Competitive Employment and a 21% increase in Competitive Jobs from Reporting Period 2020.
The map below shows the distribution of those competitively employed throughout the state. The number on each county is the distinct count of people that are competitively employed in that county.
The darker the color of a county indicates that there are more individuals competitively employed in that county.
When you hover over a specific county, you will see the break down of the top five occupations (if applicable) for those competitively employed in that specific county.
Some counties may not have a "top five", but will list the top number of occupations their county has up to five.
You may notice that the distinct count of individuals (shown on the map) and the count of occupations (located within the tooltip) does not always match. This is because a person can have multiple jobs. The map is showing you the distinct count of people that are competitively employed, and the tooltip visualization is showing you the number of occupations.
If a county is blank/missing on the below map, that means that specific county did not have any entries for Competitive Employment in that Reporting Period. For example, Meigs county did not report anyone competitively employed in OTS for the 2021 Reporting Period.
If you would like to view the Competitive Employment Map for the previous Reporting Period, you will use the 'Reporting Period' filter at the top of the visualization.
Competitive Employment - Heat Map
The visualizations below provide a look at the average hours and wages reported for someone that has been reported within Reporting Period 2021 as being Competitively Employed.
The left column chart provides the number of jobs for the identified average hours range. As indicated on the viz, you can see that the majority of jobs worked on average between 20-24.99 hours per week.
The bar chart on the right provides the number of jobs for the identified average wages range. As indicated on the viz, you can see that the majority of jobs earned between $5.00-$10.09 per hour.
As indicated on the bar chart, you can see that there were 2,970 jobs that earned less than minimum wage. Less than 1% (<10) of these jobs were making $10.10, which was the minimum wage in 2020. Additionally, many of these jobs are in the occupation category "Food Preparation and Servicing Related" , which could account for jobs that are making less than minimum wage such as a server or waiter/waitress. The overall statewide average for those competitively employed earned $13 an hour and worked 21 hours a week.
Competitive Employment - Hours and Wages
This visualization allows you to see the occupation categories for those competitively employed. These categories are the same classifications used and established through the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
When the classification is reported within OTS, it is based upon the person's duties, and not just based on the job/job title. There are 23 major groups within this classification system.
For Reporting Period 2021, the top three occupation categories for those competitively employed were "Food Preparation and Servicing Related", "Sales and Related", and "Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance".
Competitive Employment - Occupation
Of the 5,553 people employed competitively, 53% (2,988) were eligible to receive fringe benefits. Of the 2,988 people eligible to receive fringe benefits, 93% were receiving at least one fringe benefit.
Of the 5,784 competitive jobs, 53% (3,081) are eligible to receive at least one fringe benefit, and 94% of those jobs are also receiving at least one benefit.
Competitive Employment - Eligible and Receiving Fringe Benefits
The below visualization shows the breakdown of the fringe benefits for those who were competitively employed.
If you would like to see the fringe benefits for the previous Reporting Periods, please use the filter.
Of the 5,784 competitive jobs, 53% of the jobs (3,081) were eligible for fringe benefits.
Of those 5,784 jobs eligible to receive fringe benefits, 94% (2,514) provided at least one type of fringe benefit to the employee.
The treemap shows the different combinations of fringe benefits that those competitively employed were receiving in September 2021. The top three fringe benefits were:
Employee Discounts (44%);
Paid Time Off (21%); and
Employment Discounts and Paid Time Off (12%).
Competitive Employment - Fringe Benefits
This visualization shows the modes of transportation for someone working in Competitive Employment.
If you wish to see the modes of transportation for those competitively employed for previous Reporting Periods, please use the filter.
The top three modes of transportation for Reporting Period 2021 include:
34% drives self;
31% public transportation (bus/train); and
9% walks/rides a bike.