A descriptive study of disadvantaged persons, based on information available at the Texas Employment Commission Opportunity Center in Houston

Date

1969

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Abstract

Despite the increased emphasis on disadvantaged individuals and their educational, occupational, financial, and related problems, there is still a lack of descriptive information available on this group of people. This descriptive study undertook to provide such information on the sample group of six hundred individuals. All of the information used in this study was taken from closed case records at the Houston Opportunity Center of the Texas Employment Commission, in Houston, Texas. There were eleven factors used to describe these individuals: sex, race, age, marital status, education, number of children, usual occupation before receiving service at the Houston Opportunity Center, the G-score from the General Aptitude Test Battery, if administered, the individual's handicap status, his veteran status, and his Military Service Rejectee status. The total sample of 600 individuals was divided into three groups of 200 each. Group I was a random selection of both males and females; Group II consisted only of females; and Group III consisted only of males. For each factor in all three groups, the actual number of persons listed for that factor, and the percentage of that number of the total sample (200) was provided. Each segment was further divided by racial characteristics. On the basis of this study, the following conclusions seem justified; 1. The majority of the disadvantaged in the Houston area, who apply at the Houston Opportunity Center, are Negro. 2. The majority of these disadvantaged individuals are female (55.37%)- Group I was 66.0% female, with Negro disadvantaged females comprising 70.95% of the Negro segment in Group I. 3. The majority of the disadvantaged are single youth, with no children. 4. A large majority of Negro disadvantaged individuals have completed 10 to 12 grades in school; and more individuals have completed more than 12 grades, i.e., have some college or university education, than have completed 6 grades or less. 5. The large majority of disadvantaged workers in the Houston area are employed in service occupations, followed by those in unskilled occupations, and those with no work experience at all. 6. G-scores, from the GATE, indicate that, while the mean score for this test is 100, the majority of the Negro disadvantaged had scores that fell between 60 and 89, with a mean of 78.86. The mean score of the White-Spanish individuals was 82.75, while the mean score of the White persons tested was 92.73. Judging from these results, there appears to be definite racial differences in performance on this test, even within the disadvantaged population.

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Keywords

People with social disabilities

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