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People with disabilities more likely to be looking for work

People in the labor force who have disabilities are twice as likely to be looking for work compared with those without disabilities, according to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

“We have come a long way since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, but we still have a long way to go,” Alissa Stevens, MPH, of the CDC’s Division of Human Development and Disability, told Healio.com/Family-Medicine. “People with disabilities are an important part of the American workforce, yet many are unemployed. [This] report underscores that living in poverty, having less than a high school education, or being in the labor force but looking for work are more common among working-age adults with disabilities; this is true even for those with just one disability type and becomes even more common as the number of disabilities increase.”

Alissa Stevens

Using information gathered from the National Health Interview Survey, researchers assessed 128,014 people to determine the number of those with disabilities in the following categories: independent living, self-care, mobility, cognition, vision and hearing. For the purposes of this study, a “yes” response to any question on these topics meant a respondent was classified as having a disability. They then evaluated the socioeconomic characteristics of adults with disabilities.

Based on their responses, researchers determined that approximately 22.6 million working-age adults have a disability and most — 12.8 million — have only one type of disability, Stevens said.

Researchers wrote that more participants with less than a high school education reported a disability than those who did not report one (26.9% vs. 3.1%) and an income-to-poverty ratio of less than one (29.2% vs. 13.3%). They also found more disabilities among those with lower socioeconomic status traits. Overall, more people with disabilities in the labor force were looking for work, compared with those without disabilities (16.2% vs. 7.5%). The percentage increased with more disabilities:

• 13.8% of respondents looking for work had one disability;
• 21.4% of respondents looking for work had two disabilities;
• 29% of respondents looking for work had three disabilities; and
• 26.4% of respondents looking for work had four or more disabilities.

The study did have some limitations, including the inability to determine causality and possible response, recall and reporting bias. The study also did not ask about all types of disabilities, in some instances estimated the severity level of disabilities, and did not include those living in group homes or institutional settings.

“This study … provides information and resources that health care providers, public health practitioners, and people interested in the health and well-being of people with disabilities can use to increase awareness about disability inclusion. This information can help ensure that everybody, with and without disabilities, can live, work, learn, and play in their communities,” Stevens said. – by Janel Miller

Disclosure: Stevens reports no financial disclosures. Healio.com/Family-Medicine was unable to determine the other researchers’ relevant financial disclosures prior to publication.