Job Seeking Experiences of Autistic and Non-Autistic Youth

Background: Engaging in employment can result in a number of positive outcomes for autistic individuals (e.g., Hedley et al., 2017; Lounds Taylor, Smith, & Mailick, 2014). However autistic individuals often face significant challenges in seeking, gaining and maintaining employment (Baldwin, Costley, and Warren 2014; Lopez and Keenan 2014; Hedley et al. 2017, 2018; Harmuth et al. 2018; Wei et al. 2018). In Australia, this is reflected in the labor participation rate of 40.8% among autistic individuals, which is lower than individuals with and without a disability (53.4% and 83,2% respectively; Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2015). Among transition aged youth on the autism spectrum, successfully gaining employment has been cited as a common challenge (e.g., Roux et al., 2013; Shattuck et al., 2012), and vocational outcomes among this group have been cited as low (e.g., Pounds Taylor & Seltzer, 2011).

Objectives: The current study explored the job seeking experiences of transition aged autistic and non-autistic youth aged 15-25 years who were recruited as a part of a larger longitudinal study.

Methods: Data were extracted from the first phase of a national longitudinal online study of autistic and non-autistic youth aged between 15-25 years (M = 19.39, SD = 2.33). Respondents were N = 252 individuals, of whom n = 136 identified as autistic and n = 116 identified as non-autistic (46 % male, 54% female) who answered a series of questions about their job-seeking experiences adapted from the Labour Force Survey (ABS, 1960).

Results: Of the 252 individuals, 39% (n = 53) of the autistic individuals reported seeking work, while 43.1% (n = 50) of the non-autistic respondents reported actively seeking work.

There were no differences in the number of jobs applied for over a three month period between the autistic (M = 11.48, SD = 18.79) and non-autistic (M = 15.21, SD = 16.70) individuals, t(93) = 1.023, p = .309. However, the autistic respondents (n = 48) reported applying up to 103 jobs, while the non-autistic respondents (n = 47) reported applying for up to 60 jobs.

Autistic job-seekers reported using less strategies in their search for a job (M = 1.87, SD = 1.74) than non-autistic job seekers (M = 2.52, SD = 1.47), t(101) = 2.044, p = .044.

Autistic and non-autistic job seekers reported similar levels of success in their search for a job, with 17% (n = 9) of autistic, and 18% (n = 9) non-autistic individuals reporting finding a job.

Conclusions: While autistic individuals reported less strategies in their search for employment, a similar number of autistic and non-autistic respondents reported seeking employment, and a similar number reported success in their search. These results are at odds with the existing literature addressing autism and employment.

This presentation will further explore the data, to look at whether their role involves additional support, the number of hours each group reported working, and the perceived reasons for not finding work for those who were unsuccessful across the two groups.