Record Employment Gains for Americans with Disabilities
Recently, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that their numbers are in from 2023 and a record share of Americans with disabilities were employed. This news comes as a huge victory after companies have openly shared their views on wanting to diversify their workforce, and this means employing more people with disabilities. This also means that workplaces are making more accommodations for individuals that need adaptations.
The COVID Pandemic plays a major role in disabled workers’ labor market experiences the past few years. Remote work opportunities emerged and those that had special needs and could work out of the comfort of their own home found themselves landing a job they may previously not have been eligible for. Flexible teleworking positions was the key factor that the disabled population needed to jump gears and increase employment rates.
The shift simultaneously occurred at a time we’ve seen an overall share of Americans who are disabled. 12.5% of Americans were disabled in 2023, up from 11.7% in 2019, according to BLS data cited in a report from the National Partnership for Women and Family.
And although disabled worker’s unemployment rates fell to record lows in 2023, ultimately it still remains twice as high as the rate for workers without a disability. Also, keep in mind that people with a disability are more likely to be working part-time and earning significantly lower wages. Occupational segregation is to blame for disabled workers being subject to work in industries that offer low wage, part-time positions such as maintenance, food services, retail, or healthcare support.
Unfortunately, government benefit programs such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), have low asset and/or income limits that penalize disabled people for working and saving money. Increased rates of poverty and a wealth gap between people with and without disabilities become the outcome of such limitations.
Continued Push To Support Disabled Workers
Every American deserves the right to work, and our inherent value should not be solely based on our ability to work. There still remains a persistence in barriers to obtaining jobs and staying employed. The three-quarters of disabled people who are not in the workforce – whether it is because they are 65 or older, cannot work, do not want to work or for any other reason – deserve to be able to achieve economic security too. Therefore, it’s vital to ensured that those with disabilities who want, and need, to work receive the access, support, and protection they need to do so.
Workforce policies are being encouraged to improve inclusion and equitable employment for workers with a disability. Policymakers must implement strong boundaries that works with disabled people. They can do this by:
- Modernizing Social Security benefits, eligibility and asset limits to adjust for current levels of inflation and costs of living
- Raising the minimum wage to at least $17 per hour
- Increasing funding to programs in the Retaining Employment and Talent after Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN), which help newly disabled people remain at their place of employment after becoming chronically ill or disabled
- Increasing workplace accommodations, including by addressing air quality, continuing to provide telework opportunities, and guaranteeing paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave
- Strengthening employee protections by passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act and enhancing the U.S. Department of Labor’s ability to enforce workplace classification laws
- Increasing investments in data collection surrounding disabled people’s experiences in the labor market as well as into the impacts of long COVID
- Eliminating Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act
- Updating social safety net programs, including by raising asset limits for programs such as SSI
- Combat workplace discrimination with more robust enforcement of anti-discrimination laws
- Support workplace flexibility, including remote work and flexible schedules, where possible
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