Workers with disabilities are few, Labor Dept. finds

Only 19.2% of all people with any disabilities were employed in 2009, a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor indicated, in its first ever survey of employment among people with cognitive or physical disabilities.

The unemployment ratio of persons with disabilities was 14.5%, higher than the rate of those without disabilities, which was 9.0%. This is the first news study focusing on the employment status of persons with a disability. The information in this study was obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 households that provides statistics on employment and unemployment in the United States.

Beginning in June 2008, questions were added to the CPS that were designed to identify persons with a disability in the civilian population age 16 and older. The year 2009 is the first calendar year for which annual averages are available.

The collection of these data is sponsored by the Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy.

Highlights from the 2009 data are:

~For all age groups, the employment-population ratio was much lower for persons with a disability than for those with no disability. The unemployment rate of persons with a disability was well above the rate of those with no disability.

~Persons with a disability were over three times as likely as those with no disability to be age 65 or older. Nearly one-third of workers with a disability were employed part time, compared with about one-fifth of those with no disability.

Persons with a disability tend to be older than persons with no disabilities, reflecting the increased incidence of disability with age. In 2009, almost half of people with disabilities were at least 65 years old, compared with about one-tenth of those with no disability. Women were somewhat more likely to have a disability than men, thus reflecting the greater life expectancy of women. Among major race and ethnicity groups, the prevalence of a disability was higher for blacks and whites than for Asians and Hispanics.

Employment

In 2009, the employment-population ratio, the proportion of the population that is employed, was 19.2% for individuals with disabilities. Among those with no disability, the ratio was much higher, 64.5%. In part, this reflects the older age profile of persons with a disability; older individuals, regardless of disability status, are less likely to be employed.

However, across all age groups, persons with disabilities were much less likely to be employed than those with no disability. Persons with a disability who have completed higher levels of education were more likely to be employed than those with less education. However, at all levels of education, persons with a disability were less than half as likely to be employed than were their counterparts with no disability.

Workers with disabilities were more likely than those with no disability to work part time. Among workers with a disability, 32% usually worked part time in 2009, compared with 19% of workers without a disability.

A slightly larger proportion of workers with a disability worked part time, because of the ailing economy, than those with no disability, 8% and 6%, respectively. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

Workers with a disability were slightly more likely than those with no disability to work in service occupations, 20% compared with 18%.

In production, transportation, and material moving occupations, people with disabilities were employed at 14%, compared with 11% of regular workers. Those with a disability were less likely to work in management, professional, and related occupations, 31%, compared with 38%.

In 2009, 16% of workers with a disability were employed in federal, state, and local government, and 15% of those with no disability. 73% of workers with a disability were employed as wage and salary workers, compared with 78% of those with no disability. An 11% of workers with a disability were self-employed, compared to 7% of those with no disability.