Appendix D. Direct Support Workforce Statistics for Large State Residential Facilities in 2008

Lakin, Larson, Salmi, and Scott (2009) surveyed administrators of large (16 or more residents) state intellectual and/or developmental disabilities residential facilities or units operating on June 30, 2008 and found that Texas reported the largest number of direct support staff with 5,381 full-time equivalent (FTE) (Table D1).

Table D1. Number and Percentage of FTE Staff by Discipline in Large State Facilities on June 30, 2008 (Lakin et al., 2009)

Texas
Discipline	Number	Percent
Physicians	38	0.4%
Nurses	1,128	11.7%
Teachers/Aides	181	1.9%
Psychologists	140	1.4%
OT/PT	78	0.8%
Speech	35	0.4%
Other QMRP	182	1.9%
Direct Support (Aides)	5,381	55.6%
Other Direct Service	275	2.8%
Administration/Management	421	4.4%
Support Personnel	1,816	18.8%
Total	9,676	100%

Total Reported U.S . (50 states and Washington, D. C. )
Discipline	Number	Percent
Physicians	330	0.5%
Nurses	6,054	8.4%
Teachers/Aides	1,500	2.1%
Psychologists	722	1.0%
OT/PT	534	0.7%
Speech	353	0.5%
Other QMRP	1,498	2.1%
Direct Support (Aides)	38,357	53.2%
Other Direct Service	3,433	4.8%
Administration/Management	5,100	7.1%
Support Personnel	14,282	19.8%
Total	72,163	100%

Estimated Totals in U.S.
Discipline	Number	Percent
Physicians	430	0.5%
Nurses	7,901	8.8%
Teachers/Aides	1,958	2.2%
Psychologists	943	1.1%
OT/PT	696	0.8%
Speech	461	0.5%
Other QMRP	1,955	2.2%
Direct Support (Aides)	50,059	55.8%
Other Direct Service	4,481	5.0%
Administration/Management	5,321	5.9%
Support Personnel	15,439	17.2%
Total	89,643	100%

In 2008, Texas was one of six states reporting turnover rates exceeding 50%: Georgia (100.9%), Nebraska (66.3%), Alabama (59.7%), Louisiana (59.3%), Texas (56.2%), and Mississippi (55.5%) (Table 20). When asked about common workforce concerns, 56% of large state facility administrators ranked direct support professional turnover as their biggest concern. Other concerns included "finding qualified direct support professionals (47%), new hires quitting during their first six months of employment (33%), and direct support wages and benefits (31%)" (Lakin et al., 2009, p. 58).

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Table D2. Wage, Turnover, and Vacancy Statistics for Direct Support Staff (e.g., Aides) in June 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 (Lakin et al., 2009, pp. 56-57)

Texas
Year	Mean Starting Wage ($)	Average Wage ($)	Turnover (%)	Vacancies (%)
2000	7.79	8.56	40.0	8.1
2002	7.97	9.27	39.5	5.8
2004	8.10	8.83	38.4	4.9
2006	8.44	9.44	37.6	6.2
2008	9.58	10.24	56.2	7.7

National
Year	Mean Starting Wage ($)	Average Wage ($)	Turnover (%)	Vacancies (%)
2000	9.19	11.57	27.0	7.7
2002	9.62	12.33	28.0	5.6
2004	10.12	12.53	28.5	5.8
2006	11.06	13.17	27.3	6.7
2008	11.35	14.13	29.6	6.9

In 2008, Pearson correlation coefficient analyses showed that three variables were significantly correlated with higher direct support professional turnover rates: lower daily per diem (r=-0.22, p<.05), facilities with lower starting wages for direct support professionals (r=-0.49, p<.0001), and facilities located in the South Census Region (r=0.52, p<.0001). Multiple regression analyses showed that direct support professionals wage (p<.05) and In South Census Region (p<.05) helped account for 28.5% of the variability of direct support turnover rates at facilities participating in the survey (Lakin et al., 2009, pp. 62-63).

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Updated: November 23, 2010