The Unemployment of Americans with Disabilities

On the eve of the new millennium, the Dow Jones average has topped 10,000 points, the nation's February 1999 unemployment rate for labor force participants (those working or actively seeking employment) was 4.4 percent (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1999), and U.S. business faces a general shortage of qualified workers. Yet, 69.6 percent of the 17.2 million Americans of working age with work disabilities do not participate in the labor force, and 12.3 percent of labor force participants with work disabilities are unemployed and actively seeking employment (Stoddard, Jans, Ripple & Kraus, 1998). A number of issues impact the continued unemployment of Americans with disabilities.

• The current business climate has created the need for educated, highly skilled workers and has introduced technological advances that may improve employment prospects for some adults with disabilities through work arrangements such as telecommuting and small business entrepreneurships. Nevertheless, a large section of the labor market consists of low-skilled, low-paying service industry jobs where people with disabilities are most likely to find employment (Hayward & Tashjian, 1996).
• The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was initially welcomed as a vehicle through which people with disabilities would be able to access employment opportunities, yet people with disabilities continue to report widespread discrimination when seeking employment (DiLeo, 1998). However, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reported only 79 cases of litigation in the area of employment hiring discrimination under Title I of the ADA during the period from 1993 to March 1998 (EEOC, 1998).
• Title I of the ADA requires employers to provide reasonable workplace accommodations for employees with disabilities to perform essential job functions. In response to this requirement, and to enhance productivity, employers are developing an array of workplace supports to maintain adults with disabilities on their jobs, support them on new jobs, or return them to work following their accident or injury. Positive examples of workplace supports need to be further developed and shared across employers if job opportunities are to be expanded (Federal Register, 1998a).
• During the past decade the number of persons receiving cash benefits from Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) has increased by 67 percent. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has paid approximately $72 billion annually to eight million recipients (Coelho, 1997). The structure of SSA benefits and work incentives is often perceived as inadequate to address concerns about income security and the potential loss of medical coverage (T.A. Alliance, 1998). The issue of medical coverage is particularly important because fewer than half of all adults with a severe disability have private health insurance (McNeil, 1997).
• There are nearly 7,000 Community Rehabilitation Programs (CRPs) serving approximately 800,000 adults with disabilities per day with funding from State vocational rehabilitation agencies, often in combination with other sources (Menz, 1995). The functions of CRPs are likely to change as the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 and new Department of Labor Welfare-to-Work programs are initiated. These and other legislative and policy changes, such as the proposed Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999, may result in the reimbursement of CRPs for individual employment outcomes rather than payment for services that may or may not lead to employment. Additionally, expanded consumer choice of employment services and outcomes may lead CRPs to develop new service delivery models with the ensuing need to evaluate the efficacy of various models to maximize employment outcomes. Together, these changes are likely to promote competition and innovation in employment service delivery.
• Many people with disabilities are enrolled in vocational and non-vocational day services that are primarily funded by State mental health and developmental disabilities agencies using State, Medicaid, and other sources (Wehman, Revell & Kregel, 1998). In a national projection of over one million people enrolled in State developmental disabilities-funded day services (including many at CRPs) approximately 20 percent of the people were in individual community competitive and supported employment, while 80 percent were enrolled in traditional group employment, sheltered workshops, and nonvocational adult day programs (McGaughey, Kiernan, McNally, Gilmore & Keith, 1995). These and other data (Kregel & Wehman, 1989; Wehman, Revell & Kregel, 1998) identified an increase in the number of people in individual community employment since the Federal initiation of supported employment in 1984. However, there also has been continued growth in the number of people enrolled in traditional services (Wehman & West, 1996), with approximately 65,000 people with developmental disabilities on waiting lists for vocational and nonvocational day services (DiLeo, 1998).
• Changes in the labor market have increased the importance of post-high school education. The nation's postsecondary institutions have experienced a tripling of the percentage of students reporting a disability in recent years (the largest growth is in students with learning disabilities). The academic and subsequent career success of these students may depend on the educational and personal supports they receive in two and four year colleges, adult literacy programs, General Equivalency Diploma preparation, and trade schools (Federal Register: 1998a).

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