... We are very pleased to announce
that as a result of ODEP’s collaborative work with its sister agency at DOL,
the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), for the first time in BLS’ history of
collecting the definitive information on employment rates in the U.S., they are
now including people with disabilities.
Today, the U.S. Department of
Labor released information from their January 2009 data collection and
announced that the employment rate for persons with disabilities was 23.1
percent. The unemployment rate for those with disabilities was 13.2 percent.
These data provide, for the first time, an official monthly measure of the
labor force situation for people with disabilities.
Please visit our website at www.dol.gov/odep for complete details,
including the Press Release, the link to the BLS report, and the link to a page
of commonly used BLS terms.
Groundbreaking
Developments on the Statistics on Unemployment for People with Disabilities
Six
disability employment questions included in Current Population Survey
WASHINGTON
– On February 6th,
for the first time ever, the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
official the Current Population Survey (CPS),employment data about people with
disabilities. These data have been gathered since June, 2008 when six questions
about disability were permanently added to the CPS, a monthly survey the
federal government uses to estimate the unemployment level and rate.
We applaud
DOL for including six disability questions that will add to the body of
knowledge about employment and people with disabilities.
The Current
Population Survey is a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 households
conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The sample
is selected to reflect the entire civilian noninstitutional population. Based
on responses to a series of questions on work and job search activities, each
person 16 years and over in a sample household is classified as employed,
unemployed, or not in the labor force. Data on demographic characteristics such
as sex, age, and race are also collected. People are classified as unemployed
if they had no employment during the reference week (the week containing the 12th
of the month); they were available for work at that time; and they made
specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending
with the reference week. Persons laid off from a job and expecting recall need
not be looking for work to be counted as unemployed. The unemployment data
derived from the household survey in no way depend upon the eligibility for or
receipt of unemployment insurance benefits.
The
announcement of the data on February 6th is the culmination of
efforts begun with a 1998 Executive Order signed by then President Bill Clinton
on increasing employment of adults with disabilities. A number of factors
had to be evaluated
before data could be calculated on a regular basis. First, disability is a
difficult concept to define and, by extension, not easily measured. The testing
process had to focus on developing questions that would provide an accurate
measure, but at the same time do so with few questions. Using more questions
would make measuring disability easier, but might cause more of a burden for
survey respondents and cause them to refuse to continue participating. Additionally,
the effort to secure funding for the testing process as well as the ongoing
costs of asking the questions every month had to be addressed.
The CPS uses
a set of six questions to identify persons with disabilities. A response of
"yes" to any one of the questions indicates that the person in
question has a disability. The disability questions appear in the CPS in the
following format:
This month we want to learn about people who
have physical, mental, or emotional conditions that cause serious difficulty
with their daily activities. Please answer for household members who are 16
years old or over.
·
Is
anyone deaf or does anyone have serious difficulty hearing?
·
Is
anyone blind or does anyone have serious difficulty seeing even when wearing
glasses?
·
Because
of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does anyone have serious
difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions?
·
Does
anyone have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs?
·
Does
anyone have difficulty dressing or bathing?
·
Because
of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does anyone have difficulty
doing errands alone such as visiting a doctor’s office or shopping?
Policymakers
need accurate data to determine priorities and funding. Advocates use the
information to advocate for greater focus on improving the employment of people
with disabilities. Experts who spent considerable time developing and testing
the questions believe that they provide accurate, timely data. By describing
disability in terms of functional limitations they are able to define a fairly
consistent population of people with disabilities. The limitation on the number
of questions is challenging and the questions are not perfect. However, the
same six questions are also used in other large population based surveys which
should help researchers provide more data about the lives of people with
disabilities.
Tabulations
of employment, unemployment, and labor force participation for people with
disabilities will provide important information about how they compare to other
populations and trends in this comparison over time. The CPS also collects data
to measure underemployment. For example, the CPS provides estimates of the
number of persons who are employed part time but would prefer to work full
time, as well as the number who are available for work, but have stopped
looking for a job because they feel that there is none available for them.
It should not
be assumed that if an individual with a disability is ready to work but not
looking for work that the individual is not interested in employment.
Unfortunately, all too often systems
intended to support him or her in entering employment have failed in achieving
this goal. These system’s shortcomings must be rectified by policymakers so
that all individuals with disabilities are empowered to participate in our
nation’s labor force. Having people with disabilities included in the official
count will provide important information about who is currently look for work,
how people with disabilities who are looking for work compare to other
populations, and of employment trends over time. However, it will not provide
insight into people who are out of the labor force or working very little,
which is of significant concern to the disability community.
A secondary issue in using the monthly employment
statistic is the definition of disability. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has
been clear that the Current Population Survey was not designed to measure disability.
The questions currently used are broad in scope, including both health and
disability, it relies on the individual to define whether their condition
prevents them from working. Someone who is employed may answer very differently
from someone who is unemployed but has a similar disability.
Comment Below: The question of defining disability is an interesting one for CPS. Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that learning disabilities are not included in any way in the definition CPS used? Are there other issues that should be noted regarding this data? Do the results surprise you? Why or why not? How do they compare with other statistics on disability employment?
Unemployment of the Disabled at only 13.2% !!?? Amazing!! And the Employed rate is 23%!! Makes no sense unless so many just give-up or feel there is NO Hope! Especially for Self-Employment! I know many whom would love to be Self-Employed, but gave up, after so much B.S., Red-Tape, 'Don't Rock the Boat"; many misunderstandings; Discrimination; Bureaucracy; and Mis-Treatment by so-called State Voc Rehab Agencies,- like the Ohio RSC BVR!! If OBAMA Really knew the Truth and Stats!!?? Millions of the DISABLED WOULD LOVE TO BE SELF-EMPLOYED, but have little Hope or Real CLIENT "CHOICE"!!?? - jward52
Posted by: J Ward | February 17, 2009 at 05:08 PM
it's about time we had real statistics from the agency that measures other groups' unemployment stats instead of all the hyper heated up retoric from the advocacy crowd.
So what if learning disabled are left out?
how do you figure learning disabled anyway?
nearly everyone has some sort of learning disability.... what do the advocates want to do? Expand the number so they can get more money sucked out of the system as usual!
Posted by: John Smith | February 28, 2009 at 06:12 PM