3 Ways Candidates Can Make A Real Difference On Disability Employment

There are a hundred ways to measure the state of disability and employment. Here are just a few key indicators:

• The 2019, pre-pandemic unemployment rate for people with disabilities was 7.9% ... more than twice the rate for non-disabled people. The rate for Black disabled people rate was 11.8%, for Hispanic disabled people, 8.6%.
• 32% of working disabled people were employed part-time, a little less than twice the number of non-disabled people who worked part-time.

A 2017 study by the Kessler Foundation offers additional insights into employment and unemployment patterns among people with disabilities:

“68.4% of survey respondents were striving to work. The striving group is comprised of individuals who are currently working (42.6%), those not currently working but who have worked since disability onset (23.5%), those who have not worked since disability onset but are currently looking for work (1.5%), as well as those who have never worked but reported looking for work (0.8%).”