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Published by the Research and Training Center on Community Living, Institute on Community Integration (UCEDD) • College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota
Volume 14 • Number 2 • March 2003

Wages of Direct Support Professionals Serving Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Survey of State Agencies and Private Residential Provider Trade Associations

This brief summarizes the results of a survey of state agencies administering services for persons with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) and state-level residential service provider trade associations. The purpose of the survey was to gather and summarize available state-level information on wages paid to direct support professionals (DSPs) within each of the states. (DSPs are the individuals who provide the ongoing person-to-person support needed by people with ID/DD to carry out their daily activities.) In addition to wage statistics, the survey also gathered information on legislative and other initiatives within the states to affect DSP wages. Data collection included a brief survey to which key informants responded via mail or by telephone interview. Reports related to DSP wages, legislation, and other documents related to wage policy or related initiatives were also obtained and abstracted.

This brief was authored by Barbara Polister, Project Coordinator; K. Charlie Lakin, Director/Senior Research Associate; and Robert Prouty, Research Fellow; Research and Training Center on Community Living, Institute on Community Integration (UCEDD), University of Minnesota. They may be reached at 612/624-4394, 612/624-5005, or 612/626/2020, respectively, or via email at polis001@umn.edu, lakin001@umn.edu, or prout004@umn.edu, respectively. Preparation of this report was supported by a grant from the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Grant No. 90DN0028/04).

Introduction

Over the past quarter century, there have been remarkable changes in the residential services system for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD). This system has been transformed along several dimensions. Two of the most important dimensions of change have been the shift from institutional to community services, and the shift from the state as a provider of services to the state as a buyer of services from non-state providers, usually private entities. The shift from institutional to community living for persons with ID/DD has substantially affected the role of the direct support professionals (DSPs) who provide the ongoing personal support needed by individuals with ID/DD. Increasing use of in-home services, supported living arrangements, and smaller residential settings have placed new demands on DSPs as they work with far less direct supervision and substantially greater responsibility than DSPs in institutional settings.

As the residential service system has shifted from state operation by state employees to contracted services provided by non-state employees, the relative pay and other compensation for DSPs has also been affected. A number of studies have shown that DSPs working for non-state agencies tend to be less well compensated than state employees working in the same general DSP role (Braddock & Mitchell, 1992; Lakin & Bruininks, 1981). The increased autonomy and responsibility placed on community DSPs and the relatively low compensation for people assuming those responsibilities within non-state agencies have affected the ability to recruit and retain people sufficiently able to contribute to the well-being of people with ID/DD through DSP work. Staff turnover among non-state community service agencies is consistently found to range from 50-75% per year or more, as compared with about 20-25% per year in state-operated services (Larson, Lakin & Hewitt, 2002). Compounding the problem of extremely high turnover rates is the increasing problem that recruitment represents. The low birth rates of the 1960s and 1970s have led to labor shortages and increased competition for employee pools from which DSPs traditionally have been drawn. One result is a growing rate of total staff and “shift” vacancies that jeopardize the basic safety and well-being of persons with ID/DD.

It is commonly recognized that pay and benefits present a major challenge to the ability of community service agencies to recruit and retain a sufficient DSP workforce to meet the current and growing demand for community services. Of concern in responding to this challenge are a number of factors, including a) the actual wages provided to people in the DSP roles, b) the rate of change in DSP wages over time, c) the discrepancy between DSP wages and average worker wages, and d) the discrepancy between wages paid to state and non-state agency DSPs. This survey was undertaken to gather and summarize available statistics on these factors.

Methodology

Survey Approach

A brief survey was developed for all state ID/DD program directors (or their designees) and for executive directors of state-level residential service provider trade associations. The survey asked respondents to identify recent studies, reports, and/or other information or estimates within their states regarding average wages for beginning and for all DSPs in non-state and state-operated community services as of 1998 or later. Copies of related reports, legislation, and other summaries of government initiatives related to wages were also requested. No request was made with respect to DSP wages in large state facilities (16 or more residents) in the survey because we gather these statistics on a biannual basis directly from the individual state facilities (Prouty, Smith, & Lakin, 2001).

The survey and request for documents was mailed in May 2002. Respondents were offered the opportunity to respond by mail or telephone interview. Follow-up calls were conducted during summer 2002 to encourage initial responses and clarify information provided.

Response Rates

Responses by Respondent Group. Responses were obtained from 49 of the 51 surveyed state agencies and 25 of 32 surveyed state residential service provider associations. The data used in this report also includes responses received from 169 of 187 individual large state facilities as part of the biannual survey.

Wage Statistics Supplied on Non-State Community DSPs. Nationally, 37 state agencies were able to provide documentation on an average beginning or average wage of DSPs working in non-state community services as of 1998 or later. Fifteen state residential service provider trade associations provided statistics on either average beginning or average direct support staff wages in non-state community services. Altogether, in 42 states, either the state ID/DD services program agency or the state residential service trade association reported average beginning and/or average wage of DSPs in non-state community agencies. In seven of these states a median wage statistic was used instead of an “average” wage statistic.

Wage Statistics Supplied on State Employee DSPs. Thirteen state ID/DD program agencies provided the average beginning and/or average wage of direct support professionals working in state-operated community residential programs. As noted above, state institution DSP wages were reported by 169 of 187 surveyed state institutions. All states still operating state institutions had a majority of state facilities reporting and a weighted (by total full-time DSPs) state average was computed.

Wage Comparisons

The wage statistics provided were entered into a spreadsheet to permit comparisons and aggregations. In addition to the statistics noted above, statistics were also obtained to permit comparisons of average DSP pay with average pay for all workers. This statistic was generated from the average workers covered by unemployment insurance in each state in 2000 as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS statistics were converted to an hourly equivalent for comparison with DSP wages (the original link that was printed with this brief, http://stats/blx/newsrelease.annpay.t01.htm, no longer works - however this new link may provide the same or equivalent information, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/annpay.t01.htm). Average contemporary DSP wages were also compared with DSP averages about a decade earlier, specifically 1989. Estimates of state and non-state DSP wages in each state in 1989 were obtained from Braddock and Mitchell (1992). In 34 states, non-state community average beginning DSP wages and/or average wages for all DSPs could be compared with DSP wages in state-operated institutions. In 10 states, beginning and/or total average non-state community DSP wages were compared with wages of DSPs in state-operated community services. In six states, wage statistics were compared for DSPs in non-state community services and both state-operated institutions and state-operated community services.

Results

Current Wages

Table 1 summarizes wage statistics gathered from each of the states. These statistics include: a) average beginning (Av Begin) and overall average wages (Av All) for DSPs in state-operated services, broken down by “institutions” (16 or more residents) and state-operated community services; b) average beginning and average for all DSPs in non-state community services, including private and local government (“Year” refers to the effective date of the reported non-state averages); c) state average hourly wages as reported by the Department of Labor for 2000; d) non-state average beginning and average for all DSPs as a proportion of the averages for DSPs in state-operated services; and e) the average wages for all state and non-state DSPs as a proportion of the average hourly wage for all employees in the state in 2000.

Average Beginning Wages

State-Operated Services. Nationally, the average of state averages (unweighted by the number of DSPs in each state) for beginning DSP wages in state-operated services was $9.49 per hour. The average beginning wages in state-operated community services (12 states) was $9.34. The average beginning wage for DSPs in state institutions was $9.51. There was a wide range among the states: in 2000, the average beginning wage for DSPs in state-operated services was less than $7.00 per hour in 8 states, and more than $11.00 per hour in 10 states.

Non-State Services. Nationally, the average beginning salary for DSPs working in non-state agencies was $7.33 per hour. As with the state DSPs, the range across states was notable. It was, however, less notable than within state-operated services. Ten (of 26) states reported average starting wages of less than $7.00 per hour, with no state re-porting an average starting wage of $9.00 per hour or higher.

Overall Average Wages

State-Operated Services. Nationally, the average reported wage for all DSPs working in state-operated services was $11.67 per hour. The average for DSPs in state-operated community services (9 states reporting) was $11.76 per hour. State average ranged from less than $8.00 per hour in 3 states to more than $13.00 in 14 states.

Non-State Services. Nationally, the average reported wage for all DSPs working for non-state residential service agencies was $8.68 per hour. The average DSP wages ranged from less than $7.00 in 3 states to $10.00 or more in 7 states.

Comparison of State and Non-State Wages

Comparisons were made of state and non-state DSP wages in states in which there were both state and non-state DSPs and for which both statistics were available. Direct comparisons of average beginning wages were made in 24 states, including 22 comparisons of state institution DSPs to non-state DSPs and 7 comparisons of state community DSPs to non-state community DSPs. Among these 29 total comparisons, in only one (Missouri state institution to non-state community) was the average beginning wage of non-state DSPs reported to be higher. On average, non-state community DSPs had starting hourly wages that were only 77.2% of those of state employees.

The average discrepancy between average wages of all DSPs was even greater. Non-state DSPs averaged less than three quarters (74.4%) of the hourly wage paid to state DSPs. The greatest proportional differences between average wages for all state and non-state DSPs in the 31 states in which comparisons could be made were in California (non-state wages were 53.9% of state), Minnesota (56.8%), Pennsylvania (57.6%), and Connecticut (57.9%).

Average DSP Wages as Proportion of State Hourly Average

Comparisons between state and non-state DSP average hourly wages and overall average wages showed both state and non-state DSPs to fall far below the state averages. State DSPs averaged only 74.4% of the average wages in their respective states, while non-state DSPs averaged barely half (55.4%) of the average state wage. The one-third of reported states with non-state DSPs earning the lowest proportion of average state wages were California (51.7%), Colorado (49.2%), Georgia (48.6%), Illinois (49.2%), Maryland (49.4%), Massachusetts (45.8%), Minnesota (51.7%), New Jersey (46.5%), Oklahoma (48.2%), Pennsylvania (49.7%), Texas (44.8%), and West Virginia (50.3%). The only states with average non-state DSP wages exceeding 70% of the state average were South Dakota and Vermont (both 72%). The only DSPs to earn 90% or more of a state’s average wage were state DSPs in California (95.9%), Iowa (103.0%), Maine (102.8%), Minnesota (91.1%), Nevada (97.0%) and Wisconsin (97.0%).

Changes in DSP Wages, 1989 and 2000

Table 2 presents changes between 1989 and 2000 (plus or minus two years depending on the year of the report) in average hourly beginning wages and average wages for all DSPs. Changes for both state and non-state DSPs are provided in terms of both total dollar increases and percentage increases. The statistics for 1989 are drawn from Braddock and Mitchell (1992). Statistics are not reported for states in which the range of the 95% confidence interval of estimate exceeds 10% of the total estimate. In 47 states, at least one set of statistics was available for 1989 and 2000 to allow comparison of reported average DSP wages for beginning and/or all employees of state and/or non-state residential services.

State DSPs. In 42 states, there were statistics to present comparison of 1989 and 2000 wages of state DSPs. In all but 3 states both average beginning and average all DSP wages could be compared. Between 1989 and 2000, the average increase in starting wages for state employees in DSP roles was $3.22. This represented a 51.3% average increase of beginning salaries of state DSPs over the period. The reported increases varied from less than 50% of the average increase (i.e., an increase of $1.61 or less per hour) in 4 states to more than 150% (i.e., an increase of $4.83 or more per hour) in 2 states. The greatest dollar increase in average beginning wages was in California (an increase of $6.46 to $14.45 per hour). The largest percentage increase was in Kentucky (an increase of 98% to an average beginning wage of $8.63). Between 1989 and 2000, average wages for all state-employed DSPs increased by $3.50 as compared to an average beginning salary increase of $3.22, although as a proportion of 1989 wages, the average increase for all DSPs was slightly less (42.8%) than the average increase in beginning salaries (51.3%). California reported the greatest average dollar increase ($5.96), but the greatest percentage increases (70% or more) were in Delaware, Idaho, and Indiana.

Non-State DSPs. In 35 states, there were statistics to permit comparison of 1989 and 2000 average beginning wages or average wages for all DSPs in non-state residential services. Between 1989 and 2000, average starting wages for non-state DSPs increased by $2.21, or 43.2%. Based on all reporting states, the average starting wage of non-state DSPs experienced less proportional growth than state DSP average starting wages (which increased by 51.3%). The actual amount of the difference in wage increase was on average $1.01 less for non-state DSPs, leaving the average starting wage of non-state DSPs in 2000 $2.16 per hour less than the starting wage of state DSPs. The average wage of all non-state DSPs also fell further behind those of state DSPs over the period, despite a slightly greater percentage increase than state DSPs (44.9% and 42.8%, respectively). Between 1989 and 2000, average non-state DSP wages increased by $2.69 as compared with an average increase of $3.50 for state DSPs. The greatest actual increases in beginning and average wages of non-state DSPs between 1989 and 2000 were in Illinois, Washington, Missouri and Ohio. The largest proportional increases were in Illinois, South Dakota and Utah. Increases of 20% or less were reported in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Montana, and Oklahoma.