By Diane Stafford, The Kansas City Star, June 24, 2011
Fewer than 1 in 5 people with disabilities held jobs last year.
Only 18.6 percent of people with disabilities were employed in 2010, compared with 63.5 percent of the population with no disabilities.
Among those who wanted to work, the unemployment rate of the workforce with disabilities was 14.8 percent — far higher than the 9.4 percent jobless rate for the non-disabled workforce.
According to data recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, having a disability made it far more likely that a worker would hold a part-time, rather than fulltime, job.
One-fifth of workers with no disabilities worked part-time last year, compared with nearly one-third of workers with a disability.
The data also showed that persons with disabilities were more likely to be self-employed than those with no disability.
Various studies have shown that the possible cost of "accommodations" — the legally required provisions to help an employee with disabilities handle the requirement of a job — often deters employers from hiring people with disabilities.
Other studies have found that the costs of those accommodations often are less than $500.
Under labor law definitions, "disability" covers a wide range of things, including:
The statistics bureau’s annual tally of labor force characteristics for the disabled population also noted that people with disabilities tend to be older than people with no disability.
Last year, 45 percent of people with a disability were 65 or older, compared with 13 percent of those with no disability.
And because of women’s generally longer life expectancy, there were more women than men classified as disabled.
To reach Diane Stafford, call 816-234-4359 or send e-mail to stafford@kcstar.com.