Predictors of job tenure for new hires with mental retardation.

Robertson et al. (2003) looked at state records for adults with mental retardation who got new jobs. They tracked how long these workers stayed in food service, manufacturing, and janitorial work.

The study used hiring data from across one state. No one was given a special treatment. The goal was to see if job length differed from the general workforce.

Median job tenure was 2.2 to 2.3 years. That span matches the benchmark for all workers in the same state.

In plain words, adults with MR kept their jobs about as long as everyone else.

Holwerda et al. (2013) later asked the same question with younger adults. Motivation and realistic life goals predicted who would stay hired, building on the 2003 baseline.

Mulder et al. (2020) used Rhode Island data and found a new twist: prior integrated work, not facility work, predicted future tenure. Kristen’s group had not tested that factor.

Two autism studies seem to clash. Burgess et al. (2014) and Ohan et al. (2015) show that adults with ASD often land only part-time, low-pay jobs even after lots of vocational rehab. Kristen’s ID sample kept steady jobs. The gap is explained by diagnosis and service path, not by error.

You can tell funders and families that adults with ID can hold jobs as long as anyone else when placed in regular community roles. Use this fact to argue for integrated placements over sheltered workshops. Pair it with newer findings and check for past integrated experience when writing transition plans. A simple shift in placement history may boost staying power more than extra training hours.