On August 25, 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its first release focusing on the employment status of persons with a disability.
The information in the release was obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 households that provides statistics on employment and unemployment in the United States.
The following are some highlights from the 2009 data:
- For all age groups, the proportion of the population employed was much lower for persons with a disability than for those with no disability. (See table 1.)
- The unemployment rate of persons with a disability was well above the rate of those with no disability. (See table 1.)
- Persons with a disability were over three times as likely as those with no disability to be age 65 or over. (See table 1.)
- Nearly one-third of workers with a disability were employed part time, compared with about one-fifth of those with no disability. (See table 2.)
The full release can be found at www.bls.gov/news.release/disabl.nr0.htm.