Research & Statistics

Report from the Second American Bar Association National Conference on the Employment of Lawyers with Disabilities which documents the status of lawyers and law students with disabilities, including statistics and surveys, how to transition from law school to the workplace with a disability, and how and why lawyers with disabilities should be recruited and hired. The complete report can be downloaded in PDF format.

The Center facilitates the sharing of information and expertise in rehabilitation research between the United States and other countries and maintains an international rehabilitation research database that helps users to find research in their field by country.

February 2009 IssueLab offers a collection of research resources and a podcast on the topic of disability and employment.

Analyzes 10 conditions and impairments on the basis of prevalence and policy relevance to determine if differences exist among these groups and between these groups and the general population.

A webcast hosted by National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research for National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research grantees and others interested in disability and rehabilitation research study methodology and design. Materials, including a PowerPoint presentation, Disability Research Design Issues and Strategies: A Conversation with Researchers, are available to download. An accessible text version of this presentation is also available.

Monthly data series from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on the employment status of people age 16 and older with a disability.

EEOC has released its Annual Report on the Federal Work Force for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009. The report assesses the state of equal employment opportunity throughout the federal work force – including trends in the composition of the workforce, and data concerning complaints of employment discrimination in the federal sector – and includes practical tips for agencies to improve their performance. Among the reports findings relating to people with disabilities is the fact that after a steady decline for the past ten years, the participation rate of employees with targeted disabilities in the federal work force held steady in FY 2009 at 0.88 percent. Despite a modest net gain of 236 employees in FY 2009 over FY 2008, Individuals with Targeted Disabilities still fell far short of the 2 percent goal set by EEOC’s LEAD Initiative.

Findings from five separate studies on issues related to the labor force participation of persons with disabilities.

March 2009 paper from the National Council on Disability examines the employment status of people with disabilities in the federal government and makes recommendations for improving federal hiring and advancement of employees with disabilities. Link opens a PDF document.

Findings from a survey conducted by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics regarding accessibility of transportation systems for people with disabilities. This link opens a PDF document.

This issue brief from the MDRC provides information on the size and costs of the two largest federal disability programs, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), as well as existing programs to help people with disabilities enter or return to the workforce.

Provides an in-depth description of employment among persons with disabilities and makes comparisons to the general population, based on the 1984 Survey of Income and Program Participation.

A report of the Michigan Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights regarding employment rehabilitation services in the state of Michigan.

Series of free webcasts from the National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research. These webcasts address subjects including Documenting Disparities in Obesity and Disability; Vocational Rehabilitation Service Models for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders; Women with Disabilities as a Health Disparities Population; and Racial/Ethnic and Gender Disparities in Health Outcomes of Persons with Spinal Cord Injuries.

The National Council on Disability (NCD) has released a report entitled Workforce Infrastructure in Support of People with Disabilities: Matching Human Resources to Service Needs, calling for policymakers at all levels of government to proactively address current shortages and examine how labor market changes are driving both current and future supply. The report presents recommendations that call for partnerships among federal departments and agencies, their state counterparts, and the private sector, including organizations involved with education and training, health care and employment services. The complete report can be downloaded in Word or PDF formats.

Report provides policy frameworks to assist stakeholders (such as Medicaid directors, state legislators and cross-disability coalitions) design and implement Medicaid Buy-In programs and related work incentive initiatives to enhance the level of economic self-sufficiency of persons with significant disabilities.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has released a new report, Creating a Roadmap out of Poverty for Americans with Disabilities. The report focuses on three cities: Detroit, Jacksonville and Milwaukee, and the tie-in between the workforce development system and advancing the economic independence of individuals with disabilities. The complete report can be downloaded in PDF or Word formats.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy has released two reports on affirmative action policies in relation to people with disabilities and Veterans with disabilities. The reports examine the regulations implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act to determine whether and how federal contractor affirmative action programs might be modernized to reduce barriers to employment and eliminate earnings gaps. The two reports, Volume I: Data Sources and Models and Volume II: Modernizing Affirmative Action, are available in PDF and Word format under the Affirmative Action section.

Report from the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University regarding employers attitudes about people with disabilities. This link opens a PDF document.

Report on the YTD initiative, projects intended to develop and evaluate promising strategies to help youth with disabilities become as economically self-sufficient as possible as they transition from school to work. This link opens a PDF document.

ODEP held a series of six Listening Sessions in January - March 2010 to engage stakeholders across the nation. These sessions collected information and comments about best practices and key issues to be addressed by federal workforce systems regarding the employability, employment, workforce participation, retention and promotion of people with disabilities. Read ODEP's summary report, including specific recommendations for the Disability Program Navigator (DPN), Medicaid Buy-In and other initiatives. Webcasts of the Listening Sessions are also available online.

January 2009 report from the U.S Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) provides findings from the most extensive survey in history of employers' actions and attitudes toward employing people with disabilities. This link opens a Word document.