Economic Justice

The paper, “One Size Does Not Fit All: A New Look at the Labor Force Participation of People with Disabilities,” comes as millions of U.S. workers return from the Labor Day holiday. It offers a fresh look at the roughly 19 percent of Americans with disabilities, a population that has frequently withdrawn from the workforce. Over recent decades, people with disabilities have comprised over one-third of those who haven’t sought work or stopped trying to find it. Since the Great Recession, employment numbers for this demographic have not bounced back at the same rate as for people without disabilities, the study found.

Yin breaks down percentages of people with disabilities either employed or actively looking for work in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The data is further disaggregated into four main disability types: cognitive, ambulatory, vision or hearing, and self-care—defined as physical or mental health disabilities that have lasted more than 6 months, making it difficult for people to handle basic needs. Using 2013 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey, the brief found:

• Alaska, Minnesota and Wyoming have high labor force participation across all disability types.
• West Virginia, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee have low labor force participation rates across all disability types.
• Many states have wide variances among groups. The District of Columbia—despite a high participation rate for people with cognitive difficulties—ranked at the bottom for people with vision or hearing and self-care difficulties. Similarly, Montana has a relatively low overall all participation rate, but ranked in the top ten for people with ambulatory difficulties.