The effect of broadband adoption on the labor-market inclusion of the disabled: An empirical analysis

Abstract

Although a significant amount of research has examined the effect of broadband on the rise of employment, the majority of this work has been focused on general population's employment, with little attention paid to the effect of broadband may have on social minority employment, i.e., disabled. Motivated from this research gap, we empirically examine the effect of the broadband use on disabled employment in the United States during 2013-2016 using a county level panel data set. We find evidence that, on average, broadband use increases the disabled employment. Our empirical analysis results also provide evidence supporting the argument that this association is attributable to the role of the broadband in increasing teleworking disabled. This research contributes to the literature addressing the positive effect of Information Systems (IS) on labor market, by addressing how the broadband reshapes the disabled employment.