Data confirm low levels of employment participation for people with disabilities.(first things first)

A new study on people with disabilities confirms that people with disabilities are employed at much lower rates than those without disabilities, and people in each disability category are much less likely to be in the labor force than people without disabilities.

"Indicators of Labor Market Success for People with Intellectual Disabilities," by the Institute for Community Inclusion, also found that those with disabilities also fare poorly using the calculation of the unemployment rate.

People with mental disabilities who receive Supplemental Security Income have the lowest employment rate (percent employed) with only 9 percent of individuals in this group being employed. Unemployment rates for people with disabilities who are in the labor force are two to three times the unemployment rate for people without disabilities.

These figures may reflect a longer job search and the difficulty that individuals with disabilities face in reentering the workforce after a job loss. These data suggest the importance of examining both employment participation and the unemployment rate in order to gain a full understanding of the employment experiences of individuals with disabilities. The authors note that these calculations were made using data from a period before the recent economic downturn.

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For the full data note and information about state level data please visit http://www.communityinclusion.org/article.php?article_id=277.

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