Gender Differences in Wage Losses from Impairments: Estimates from the Survey of Income and Program Participation

This article develops a model of the relationships among functional impairments, work disability, employment participation, and wage offers. The model is estimated separately for males and females with data from the 1984 Survey of Income and Program Participation. Using estimates of disability and wage equations, we rank 25 functional impairments by severity of disability, and estimate the wage penalty associated with each impairment. The results show that limitations to mobility and strength are relatively more disabling for males than for females, while the opposite is true for limitations to sensory capacities and appearance.