2017 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium

Section 2: Employment
This section presents statistics on monthly and annual employment participation and full-time, year-round (FTYR) employment in the United States. For both categories of employment, data are presented for people with disabilities, people without disabilities, and the difference in percentage employed (employment gap) between these two populations. There are three sources of data used in this section.
The first source of these data is the American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau). For these tables, statistics for people with disabilities (disability status or disability type) are based on having responded ‘yes’ to a series of questions within the American Community Survey. The definition for employment status in the American Community Survey can be found in the glossary.
Monthly time trends are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Data Retrieval System and are based on data from the Current Population Survey-Basic Monthly Survey. Annual time trends were produced by the authors using data from the Current Population Survey-Annual Social and Economic Supplement, which is fielded annually in March. For these tables, similar to the American Community Survey, statistics for people with disabilities (disability status) are based on having responded ‘yes’ to a series of questions within the Current Population Survey. In addition, the definition for employment status in both Current Population Surveys can be found in the glossary.
Tables
Tables 2.1 and 2.2: In 2016, of the 20,761,092 individuals with disabilities ages 18 to 64 years living in the community, 7,461,001 individuals were employed—35.9 percent. In contrast, of the 176,005,194 individuals without disabilities ages 18 to 64 years living in the community, 135,089,199 individuals were employed—76.8 percent. The percentage of people with disabilities employed was highest in North Dakota (54.0 percent) and lowest in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (22.2 percent).
Table 2.3: In 2016, of the 4,005,393 individuals with hearing disabilities ages 18 to 64 years living in the community, 2,071,694 individuals were employed—51.7 percent. The percentage of people with hearing disabilities employed was highest in South Dakota (72.0 percent) and lowest in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (28.2 percent).
Table 2.4: In 2016, of the 3,928,723 individuals with vision disabilities ages 18 to 64 years living in the community, 1,710,056 individuals were employed—43.5 percent. The percentage of people with vision disabilities employed was highest in Montana and North Dakota (58.6 percent) and lowest in West Virginia (26.9 percent).
Table 2.5: In 2016, of the 8,931,533 individuals with cognitive disabilities ages 18 to 64 years living in the community, 2,352,368 individuals were employed—26.3 percent. The percentage of people with cognitive disabilities employed was highest in North Dakota (42.2 percent) and lowest in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (13.8 percent).
Table 2.6: In 2016, of the 10,097,156 individuals with ambulatory disabilities ages 18 to 64 years living in the community, 2,502,518 individuals were employed—24.8 percent. The percentage of people with ambulatory disabilities employed was highest in South Dakota (39.6 percent) and lowest in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (16.9 percent).
Table 2.7: In 2016, of the 3,653,028 individuals with self-care disabilities ages 18 to 64 years living in the community, 564,411 individuals were employed—15.5 percent. The percentage of people with self-care disabilities employed was highest in Nevada (37.8 percent) and lowest in New Mexico (9.4 percent).
Table 2.8: In 2016, of the 7,412,570 individuals with independent living disabilities ages 18 to 64 years living in the community, 1,257,947 individuals were employed—17.0 percent. The percentage of people with independent living disabilities employed was highest in North Dakota (33.0 percent) and lowest in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (6.8 percent).
Table 2.9: In 2016, 35.9 percent of people with disabilities ages 18 to 64 years living in the community were employed, while 76.8 percent of people without disabilities ages 18 to 64 years living in the community were employed—a difference of 40.9 percentage points. The difference was greatest in Rhode Island (48.6 percentage points) and smallest in Alaska (28.2 percentage points).
Table 2.10: In 2016, the difference in the percentage of people employed with and without disabilities ages 18 to 64 years living in the community was 41.2 percentage points. The gap was greatest in Maine (50.1 percentage points) and smallest in Wyoming (21.9 percentage points).