Job histories in open employment of a population of young adults with mental retardation: I.

Job histories were obtained for a population of young adults with mental retardation. No one with IQ less than 50 had been in open employment. Persons with mild mental retardation (n = 100) who received no adult services were compared to peers who were not retarded (n = 52) who left school without academic qualifications on a variety of job measures (e.g., unemployment, time out of the labor force, job turnover, level of job skill, and take-home pay). Among the 54 subjects with IQs of 50 or more who received adult services, approximately half had some open employment. Our results provide a less optimistic picture than that given by reviewers of previous research.