Earning Capacity of Private Rehabilitation Counselors

The following study builds upon prior research on rehabilitation counseling salary surveys completed by the American Counseling Association (ACA), the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC), the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals (IARP), and the American Board of Vocational Experts (ABVE). The present study examines the current state of salary distribution within the private sector of rehabilitation counseling by combining the data sets from the IARP and ABVE participants into one large sample for regression analyses. The survey was created by building on the existing ACA and CRCC salary surveys in the counseling field and refined with the assistance of a Delphi panel of 10 nationally known rehabilitation counselors with an average of 31 years clinical experience. The survey participants included 524 members of IARP and ABVE who completed the identical online survey to provide the data to examine the average annual earnings, demographics, and participants who experienced disabilities during their career within the two national organizations. Results found that gender, education level, practice setting, licensure status, and years in practice were statistically significant.