Dive Brief:
- Workers with disabilities have seen improved employment numbers in recent months, but that growth is now slowing, according to research from the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire. Its 2018 Disability Statistics Compendium shows a slowdown in job gains for this category compared to those of the previous year.
- Fewer workers with disabilities entered the workforce in 2017 than the previous year, which the institute said may be attributable to a slowing economy and changing patterns of growth in different sectors of the economy.
- Employment for working-age individuals with disabilities has risen to 37%, while the employment rate for those without disabilities is more than 77%.
Dive Insight:
Tracking with national trends, jobs numbers for workers with disabilities have indeed been on the rise — something President Donald Trump touted in his State of the Union address earlier this month.
As employers look to expand their diversity and inclusion efforts, more have worked to include workers with disabilities in their plans. Research continues to show that diversity breeds innovation, leading employers to consider whether they've overlooked any employee characteristics in their initiatives; workers with disabilities, as well as LGBT employees and older workers, are just a few of the commonly overlooked categories that are receiving new attention.
Diversity was an important hiring trend in 2018, and even as external forces begin to slow some job growth, employer commitment doesn't appear to be waning. Whether working to create new applicant streams or updating internal policies to improve accommodation efforts, it seems that workers with disabilities will remain part of employers' talent acquisition plans for the foreseeable future.
