Teaching Labor Market Survey Methodology in Rehabilitation Counseling

Labor Market Survey (LMS) and labor market analysis knowledge and methodologies are minimum competencies expected of rehabilitation counselors through credentialing and accreditation boards. However, LMS knowledge and methodology is an example of a contemporary oral tradition that is universally recognized in rehabilitation and disability services but that the literature fails to document its use or to offer commonly accepted methodologies. This article proposes a definition of LMS as it is used in these services given the survey of small population censuses or samples as well as to apply the best practices accepted in survey research to offer a 12-step model to assist rehabilitation and disability practitioners to develop more valid and reliable LMSs for vocational exploration, plan development and support, job placement, or in determining employability, placeability, and earning capacity. The 12-step LMS model is the first comprehensive theoretical method offered in the rehabilitation counseling literature that introduces a dynamic and flexible framework of primary data collection of labor market information that could be utilized in clinical and forensic practice with highly heterogeneous population of individuals with disabilities in order to meet the minimum credentialing and accreditation competencies expected of those entering the field of rehabilitation counseling.