title: Barriers to employment among unemployed drug users: age predicts severity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Drug users in treatment or exiting treatment face many barriers to employment when entering the job market, such as low levels of education and technical skills, and low levels of interpersonal skills. As a result of these and other barriers, employment rates in these groups are generally low.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article examines the existence and possible predictors of specific barriers to employment related to interpersonal and technical skills in a sample of participants enrolled in a therapeutic workplace intervention for substance abuse.
  
  
  METHODS
  In Study I (N = 77), we characterized and examined predictors of participant scores on a staff-rated scale of interpersonal skills (Work Behavior Inventory). In Study II (N = 29), we examined whether participants had lower levels of computer knowledge than job seekers in the general population, and investigated possible predictors of computer knowledge in the sample.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In general, participants in Study I displayed low levels of interpersonal skills, and participants in Study II scored lower on the computer knowledge test than job seekers in the general population. Older participants tended to have lower levels of interpersonal skills and lower levels of computer knowledge.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that providers of workforce development services for drug users in treatment or exiting treatment should attend to these specific barriers to employment, which may also be more pronounced among older clients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA. sos@umbc.edu
authors.forename: Sigurdur Oli
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Sigurdsson
authors.forename: Brandon M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Ring
authors.forename: Kristen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Reilly
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Silverman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003197:Computer Literacy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D014478:Unemployment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014829:Vocational Education / Q000379:methods; D017132:Workplace