We’re halfway through National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), and the job data are refreshingly strong. According to the latest National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE) report, workforce participation has never been higher among adults with disabilities.
“The labor force participation rate of 42.2 percent for people with disabilities in August is an all-time high,” said economist Andrew Houtenville in a press release. A professor at the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability, which collects and monitors the nTIDE data, Houtenville added that the latest data reinforce a two-year trend of strong disability employment figures. “These all-time highs are reaching just past the top of the new plateau—leveling off—we have seen since mid-2023 after the rapid growth during the post-COVID economic recovery,” he said.
Another key indicator, employment-to-population ratio, also set a new standard in the August report at 38.5 percent. Employment-to-population ratio reflects the percentage of people who are working relative to the total population. In other words, nearly 40 percent of people with disabilities are currently employed.
“We are seeing more people with disabilities in the workplace,” said Elaine Katz of the Kessler Foundation (which co-sponsors the nTIDE report) in a press release. “This increase reflects dual trends of new entrants with disabilities finding jobs and people with disabilities previously discouraged from working returning to employment.”
To put the most recent report in context, disability employment figures were much lower right before COVID hit. Labor-force participation hovered just above 33 percent, with employment-to-population ratio in the low 30s. By comparison, the current levels represent significant progress.
Still, there remains tremendous room for improvement. Despite being at all-time highs, both the labor-force-participation and employment-to-population figures for people with disabilities are roughly half the levels among nondisabled people, as the chart below reveals:
Moreover, Houtenville notes, the rise in disability employment may be related to adverse economic trends, such as persistently high inflation. “More people with disabilities may be seeking work to offset increasing prices and the loss of household income,” he said, “as nearly one-third of people with disabilities are living below the poverty line.”
So while these numbers are encouraging, there’s still work to do. For more information about National Disability Employment Awareness Month, visit the Campaign for Disability Employment.
