Introduction:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of visual impairment and correctable visual impairment (i.e., uncorrected refractive errors) on being out of the labor force and on unemployment. The effect of health on labor force status was also investigated.

Method:

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 1999 to 2008 (N = 15,650) was used for this study. Participants were classified into three vision status groups: normal, correctable visual impairment, and visual impairment. Statistical analyses utilized were chi-square and logistic regression.

Results:

Having a visual impairment was significantly associated with being out of the labor force, while having a correctable visual impairment was not. Conversely, having a correctable visual impairment was associated with unemployment, while having a visual impairment was not. Being out of the labor force was not significantly associated with health for those with a visual impairment, although it was for those with correctable visual impairments and normal vision.

Discussion:

Given previous research, it was surprising to find that health was not associated with being out of the labor force for those with visual impairments. Perhaps other disadvantages for the people with visual impairments identified in this study contributed to their higher out-of-the-labor-force rates regardless of health.

Implications for practitioners:

Researchers utilizing national data sets that rely on self-reports to identify visual impairments should realize that some of those who self-identify as being visually impaired may actually have correctable visual impairments. Current research is needed to understand why a majority of people with visual impairments are not seeking employment and have removed themselves from the labor force.

中文翻译：

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呈现视觉障碍、健康和就业状况之间的关联

介绍：

本研究的目的是调查视力障碍和可矫正视力障碍（即未矫正的屈光不正）对失业和失业的影响。还调查了健康对劳动力状况的影响。

方法：

本研究使用了1999 年至 2008 年的国家健康和营养检查调查 (NHANES) 数据（N = 15,650）。参与者被分为三个视力状态组：正常、可纠正的视力障碍和视力障碍。使用的统计分析是卡方和逻辑回归。

结果：

视力障碍与脱离劳动力显着相关，而可矫正的视力障碍则不然。相反，可矫正的视力障碍与失业有关，而视力障碍则不然。失业与视力障碍者的健康没有显着相关性，尽管对于那些具有可纠正的视力障碍和正常视力的人来说。

讨论：

鉴于之前的研究，令人惊讶的是，健康与视力障碍者退出劳动力市场无关。也许本研究中发现的视力障碍人士的其他不利因素导致他们无论健康状况如何都具有较高的失业率。

对从业者的影响：

利用依赖自我报告来识别视力障碍的国家数据集的研究人员应该意识到，一些自认为有视力障碍的人实际上可能有可纠正的视力障碍。当前的研究需要了解为什么大多数有视力障碍的人没有寻找工作并已脱离劳动力市场。