December Job Gains Minimal for People with Disabilities
By PVA National Staff
Job gains were minimal for Americans with disabilities at the close of 2019, according to the January National Trends in Disability Employment – Monthly Update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). In the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Jobs Report released in early January, the employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities increased slightly from 30.4 percent in December 2018 to 30.6 percent in December 2019 (up 0.7 percent or 0.2 percentage points). For working-age people without disabilities, the employment-to-population ratio also increased from 74.1 percent in December 2018 to 74.8 percent in December 2019 (up 0.9 percent or 0.7 percentage points). The labor force participation rate for working-age people with disabilities was unchanged from 33.3 percent in December 2018 to 33.3 percent in December 2019. For working-age people without disabilities, the labor force participation rate increased from 76.9 percent in December 2018 to 77.3 percent in December 2019 (up 0.5 percent or 0.4 percentage points). The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the population that is working or actively looking for work.
