Highlights from the 2010 data are:
- Persons with a disability were over three times as likely as those with no disability to be age 65 or over.
- For each age group, the employment-population ratio was much lower for persons with a disability than for those with no disability.
- The unemployment rate for persons with a disability was about the same in 2010 as in 2009. The rate for persons without a disability increased over the year.
- Nearly one-third of workers with a disability were employed part time, compared with about one-fifth of those with no disability.
- Persons with a disability were more likely to be self-employed than those with no disability.
Demographic characteristics
Persons with a disability tend to be older than persons with no disability, reflecting the increased incidence of disability with age. In 2010, 45 percent of persons with a disability were age 65 and over, compared with 13 percent of those with no disability.
Women were somewhat more likely to have a disability than men, partly reflecting the greater life expectancy of women. Among the major race and ethnicity groups, the prevalence of a disability was higher for blacks and whites than for Asians and Hispanics.
Employment
In 2010, the employment-population ratio was 18.6 percent for persons with a disability. Among those with no disability, the ratio was much higher at 63.5 percent. The lower ratio among persons with a disability is due, in part, to the fact that a large share of the population of persons with a disability was age 65 and older, and older workers, in general, are less likely to be employed. However, among each age group, persons with a disability were much less likely to be employed than those with no disability.
In 2010, employment-population ratios for both persons with and without a disability were lower than in 2009. For both groups, the decline was largest among those age 16 to 64.
Persons with a disability who had completed higher levels of education were more likely to be employed in 2010 than those with less education. However, at each level of education, persons with a disability were much less likely to be employed than were their counterparts with no disability. (Because many people age 16 to 24 are still
completing their education, data on educational attainment are shown for those age 25 and over.)
Workers with a disability were more likely than those with no disability to work part time. Among workers with a disability, 32 percent usually worked part time in 2010, compared with 19 percent of workers without a disability. A slightly larger proportion of workers with a disability worked part time for economic reasons than those with no disability (8 and 6 percent, respectively). These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.
Workers with a disability were slightly more likely than those with no disability to work in production, transportation, and material moving occupations (15 percent compared with 12 percent). Those with a disability were less likely to work in management, professional, and related occupations (31 percent compared with 37 percent).
In 2010, 15 percent of workers with a disability were employed in federal, state, and local government, the same percentage as those with no disability. Seventy-four percent of workers with a disability were employed as private wage and salary workers, compared with 78 percent of those with no disability. A larger proportion of workers with a disability were self-employed than were those with no disability (11 and 7 percent, respectively).
Unemployment
The unemployment rate for persons with a disability was 14.8 percent in 2010, well above the figure of 9.4 percent for those with no disability. (Unemployed persons are those who did not have a job, were available for work, and were actively looking for a job in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.) Compared with 2009, the unemployment rate for persons with a disability was about the same in 2010, while the rate for persons without a disability increased.
Among persons with a disability, the jobless rate for men (15.2 percent) was slightly higher in 2010 than the rate for women (14.3 percent). As is the case among those without a disability, the unemployment rates in 2010 for those with a disability were higher among blacks (22.0 percent) and Hispanics (18.4 percent) than among whites (13.6 percent) and Asians (12.0 percent).
Not in the labor force
Persons who are neither employed nor unemployed are referred to as not in the labor force. As was the case in 2009, a large proportion of those with a disability (about 8 in 10) were not in the labor force in 2010, compared with about 3 in 10 of those with no disability. In part, this reflects the fact that many of those with a disability are age 65 and over. However, for each age group, persons with a disability were more likely than those with no disability to be out of the labor force.
For persons with and without a disability, the vast majority of those not in the labor force reported that they do not want a job. Among those who do want a job, a subset is classified as marginally attached to the labor force. These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among persons not in the labor force,1 percent of those with a disability were marginally attached to the labor force in 2010, compared with 4 percent of those with no disability. (Persons marginally attached to the labor force include discouraged workers.)
