Employment Facts about People With Disabilities in the Workplace
- Among adults with disabilities of working age (18 to 64), three out of ten (32%) work full or part-time, compared to eight out of ten (81%) of those without disabilities, a gap of forty-nine percentage points (N.O.D./Harris, 2000).
- The more severe the disability, the less likely a person is to be employed. People with slight disabilities are 8 times more likely to be employed than people with very severe disabilities (64% versus 8% respectively (N.O.D./Harris,2000).
- Over the past fourteen years, the percentage of people who say they are unable to work has risen steadily from 29% to 43%. When looking at only the people who say they are able to work, fully 56% of people with disabilities are working, up from 46% in 1986, and the gap between people with and without disabilities shrinks from 49 percentage points to 25 percentage points (N.O.D./Harris 2000).
- The likelihood of experiencing a disability increases with age, with disability rates of 1.7% among those less than 22 years of age, 6.4% among those age 22-44, 11.5% among those age 45-54, 21.9% among those age 55-64, 27.8% among those age 65 to 79, and 53.5% among those over 80 (Disability Statistics Center, 1997).
- In 2001, the first of the 76 million Baby Boomers will reach age 55. Over the 1998-2008 period, total employment in the U.S. is projected to increase by 14% to 161 million people working, an increase of 20 million. The total number of job openings due to new job growth and replacing workers who are leaving their jobs for the same period is 55 million (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 1999).
- The occupations that currently account for 25% of all jobs for people with disabilities are: Executive and administrative, Machine operators, Food preparations and service jobs, and Sales workers (Stoddard, Jans, Ripple, Kraus, 1998). They are most unlikely employed as: Teachers, Physicians/dentists, Computer programmers, Police, Firefighters (Packaged Facts, 1997).
- The 10 occupations with the projected largest job growth are: Systems Analysts, Retail salespersons, Cashiers, General managers and top executives, Truck drivers, General office clerks, Registered nurses, Computer support specialists, Personal care and home health aides, and Teacher assistants (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 1999).
- Small businesses (less than 500 employees) represent over 99% of all employers, employ 52% of all workers, and provide virtually all of the net new jobs (Small Business Administration, 1999). People with disabilities are twice as likely to be self-employed as the general population; 14.7 percent compared to eight percent (Thornton and Lunt, 1997).
- The total federal workforce is declining, but the number of disabled people employed within it is rising (Thornton and Lunt, 1997).
- The labor force age 45-64 will grow faster than the labor force of any other age group as the baby boom generation (born 1946-64) continues to age (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 1999).
- More than half of employed adults with disabilities report that they found their jobs through personal contact (Thornton and Lunt, 1997).
REFERENCES
Bureau of Labor Statistics (1999), New 1998-2008 Employment Projections
Disability Statistics Center, (1997) 'How does disability vary with age in the U.S.?'
National Organization on Disability/Louis Harris and Associates, Inc. (N.O.D./Harris) (2000) 2000 N.O.D./Harris Survey of Americans With Disabilities
Packaged Facts (1997) Marketing to Americans With Disabilities
Small Business Administration (1999)
Stoddard, S., Jans, L., Ripple, J. and Kraus, L. (1998). 'What occupations are held by people with a work disability who are employed?' Chartbook on Work and Disability in the United States, 1998 An InfoUse Report. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
Thornton, P and Lunt, N (1997) 'Employment Policies for Disabled Persons in Eighteen Countries: A review' 'United States', A University of New York, Social Research Unit paper, Ottawa, Can.: Global Applied Disability Research and Information Network on Employment and Training (GLADNET) Research (NIDRR)
Bureau of Labor Statistics (1999), New 1998-2008 Employment Projections
Disability Statistics Center, (1997) 'How does disability vary with age in the U.S.?'
National Organization on Disability/Louis Harris and Associates, Inc. (N.O.D./Harris) (2000) 2000 N.O.D./Harris Survey of Americans With Disabilities
Packaged Facts (1997) Marketing to Americans With Disabilities
Small Business Administration (1999)
Stoddard, S., Jans, L., Ripple, J. and Kraus, L. (1998). 'What occupations are held by people with a work disability who are employed?' Chartbook on Work and Disability in the United States, 1998 An InfoUse Report. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
Thornton, P and Lunt, N (1997) 'Employment Policies for Disabled Persons in Eighteen Countries: A review' 'United States', A University of New York, Social Research Unit paper, Ottawa, Can.: Global Applied Disability Research and Information Network on Employment and Training (GLADNET) Research (NIDRR)