Examining the Effect of Decent Jobs on Job Retention Among Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Comparative Study of Idds and Other Disabilities in South Korea

Background: This study investigates the effect of ‘decent jobs’ on job retention, mediated by job satisfaction, among individuals with disabilities in South Korea. Specifically, it explores differences in this effect between individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) and those with other disabilities.

For individuals with IDDs, employment is a critical indicator of successful transition to adulthood, as it facilitates independence and community integration. Disability policies, therefore, aim to promote the creation of decent jobs—positions that offer adequate wages, stability, and full-time status for people with disabilities.

Despite this policy focus, there is a notable lack of research examining how the prevailing standards of decent jobs affect job satisfaction and employment retention among individuals with IDDs. This study addresses this gap by exploring how these standards influence job satisfaction and the intention to remain employed across a spectrum of disabilities.

Methods: This study utilizes longitudinal data from the 2022-2024 panels of the Panel Survey of Employment for Persons with Disabilities in South Korea. Among the panel participants, data from 2,243 individuals with disabilities who reported being employed were analyzed, including 138 individuals with IDDs, representing 6.2% of the sample.

To examine longitudinal mediating effects, autoregressive cross-lagged modeling was employed. This model is particularly suited for this analysis because it accounts for the predictability of variables over time and estimates the effects of independent variables while controlling for previous values of both mediating and dependent variables. The independent variable, decent job, was composed of three observed variables: wage level, work hours, and whether the individual held a regular position. Job satisfaction was treated as the mediating variable, while job retention intention served as the dependent variable.

A multigroup analysis was conducted to examine differences between individuals with IDDs and those with other disabilities. The chi-square test was used to compare the fit of the autoregressive cross-lagged models between the two groups. Results indicated that the models and their respective path coefficients significantly differed between the two groups.

Results: The effect of decent job was found to differ between individuals with IDDs and those with other disabilities. Among individuals with other disabilities, employment in decent jobs in 2020 positively affected job satisfaction in 2021 and job retention in 2022. Furthermore, job satisfaction mediated the relationship between decent jobs and job retention. In contrast, for individuals with IDDs, no statistically significant effects of decent jobs were observed on either job satisfaction or job retention.

Implication: The findings suggest that the general definition of a decent job—one that offers high wages, stability, and full-time status—does not significantly affect job satisfaction or job retention among individuals with IDDs in South Korea. This is because, for individuals with IDDs, employment is not primarily viewed as a means to earn a substantial income for self-sustenance, but rather as an opportunity for self-actualization. Future research should explore the factors that contribute to individuals with IDDs perceiving their jobs as decent.