Are workers with disabilities more likely to be displaced?

The State of Employment for People With IDD: Implications for Practice, Policy, and Equity

Meaningful progress in improving employment outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities continues to be elusive, despite 40 years of investment in research, policy, and supports. This article reviews the current state of employment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and describes policy, practice, and individual factors that influence employment outcomes. Research suggests the need for a holistic approach to change that addresses systems-level strategy, policy, and fiscal investment while strengthening individual experiences with employment and related day services. Recommendations address strengthening the implementation of employment policy, developing pathways to employment, and engaging individuals with IDD and, in particular, individuals with diverse social characteristics in reflecting on the quality of their experiences and supports.

Disability, workplace inclusion and organizational citizenship behavior: an exploratory study of the legal profession

Purpose –

Many workers with disabilities face cultures of exclusion in the workplace, which can affect their participation in decisions, workplace engagement, job attitudes and performance. The authors explore a key indicator of engagement-perceptions of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)-as it relates to disability and other marginalized identities in the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach –

Using an online survey, legal professionals answered questions about their workplace experiences. Ordinary least squares (OLS) multivariate regression analysis with progressive adjustment was used to investigate the effect of demographic and organizational factors on perceptions of OCB.

Findings –

The authors find that employees with disabilities have lower perceptions of OCB, both before and after controlling for other personal and job variables. The disability gap is cut nearly in half, however, when controlling for workplace culture measures of co-worker support and the presence of an effective diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy. Disability does not appear to interact with gender, race/ethnicity and LGBTQ + status in affecting perceptions of OCB.

Originality/value –

The results point to the workplace barriers faced by people with disabilities that affect their perceptions of engagement, and the potential for supportive cultures to change these perceptions.

Exploring mental health disability gaps in the labour market: the UK experience during COVID-19

People with long-term mental health problems that affect their daily activities are a growing proportion of the UK working population and they have a particularly low employment rate. We analyse gaps in labour market outcomes between mental health disabled and non-disabled people during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. We also decompose the outcome gaps in order to explore the relative importance of different factors in explaining these gaps. Our results suggest that the employment effects of the pandemic for mental health disabled people may have been temporary. However, they were more likely to be away from work and/or working reduced hours than people without a disability. Workers with mental health disability were over-represented in part-time work and in caring, leisure and other service occupations, which were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and the economic response. This is important new evidence on the contribution of segmentation and segregation in explaining the labour market position of people with mental health disability. The longer term effects of the pandemic were still not apparent at the end of our analysis period (2021:Q3), but the concentration of disabled workers in cyclically sensitive sectors and part-time work means that they will always be particularly vulnerable to economic downturns.

Do Area-Level Environmental Factors Influence Employment for People with Disability? A Scoping Review

Employment is an important social determinant of health and wellbeing. People with disability experience labour market disadvantage and have low labour force participation rates, high unemployment rates, and poor work conditions. Environmental factors are crucial as facilitators of or barriers to participation for people with disability. Understanding how the physical, social, and economic characteristics of local areas influence employment for people with disability can potentially inform interventions to reduce employment inequalities. We conducted a scoping review of research investigating associations between area-level environmental factors and employment for people with disability. Eighteen articles published between 2000 and 2020 met the inclusion criteria, and data were extracted to map the current evidence. Area-level factors were categorised into six domains relating to different aspects of environmental context: socioeconomic environment, services, physical environment, social environment, governance, and urbanicity. The urbanicity and socioeconomic environment domains were the most frequently represented (15 and 8 studies, respectively). The studies were heterogeneous in terms of methods and data sources, scale and type of geographic units used for analysis, disability study population, and examined employment outcomes. We conclude that the current evidence base is insufficient to inform the design of interventions. Priorities for future research are identified, which include further theorising the mechanisms by which area-level factors may influence employment outcomes, quantifying the contribution of specific factors, and interrogating specific factors underlying the association between urbanicity and employment outcomes for people with disability.

Sustainable Circular Economy for the Integration of Disadvantaged People: A Preliminary Study on the Reuse of Lithium-Ion Batteries

The circular economy is attracting the attention of governments and companies who recognize the importance of promoting a sustainable approach toward social and industrial development. The European Union requires EU State members to support a sustainable approach to improving the production and consumption of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). This paper supports the conceptualization of a sustainable circular economy model, proposing the reuse of lithium-ion batteries from WEEE. The aim is to define a circular economy-based production model for the reuse of waste lithium-ion batteries and support the inclusion of disadvantaged people in the recovery process, breaking the barriers of social discrimination. The activities introduced in this paper are part of a circular economy project for the social integration of disadvantaged people. In this paper, the preliminary results of the project are introduced, proposing a methodology for the disassembly of waste lithium-ion batteries. The disassembly line balancing proposed in this paper focuses on the need to include workers with physical, psychological, sensory, or intellectual limitations, as well as people experiencing communication difficulties. Future steps of the project will focus on the design of the assembly line to produce battery packs for pedal-assisted bicycles from the recovered lithium-ion cells.

Conceptualizing the Marginalization Experiences of People with Disabilities in Organizations Using an Ableism Lens

Existing literature on disability inclusion in the workplace has done little to confront the structural inequalities facing people with disabilities and has instead focused on ideas of assimilation strategies. As a result, in HRD there is a conflation between disability research and research that is “critical.” The purpose of this conceptual article is to examine the persisting influence of ableism on the marginalization experiences of people with disabilities in organizations. Specifically, the present article conceptualizes the effects of ableism on the hiring, retention, and promotion of people with disabilities in organizations. The critical analysis of everyday work experiences of people with disabilities in ableist organizations as offered in this article calls for organizations to fundamentally rethink how they can better support this world’s largest minority group. Implications for HRD research and practice will be discussed.

Is disability more discriminatory in hiring than ethnicity, address or gender? Evidence from a multi-criteria correspondence experiment

In this paper, we conduct a multi-criteria correspondence test to assess the extent of discrimination in access to employment against candidates with a hearing disability and compare it to three other potential grounds for discrimination: ethnicity, place of residence and gender. From October 2019 to February 2020, we sent 2315 applications to 463 job vacancies in the Paris region in France for two occupations, administrative managers and caregiver assistants, in both the private and public sectors. We find that discrimination on the grounds of disability is similar in scope to that found on the grounds of ethnicity in the profession of administrative manager, but discrimination against the disabled candidate is half that experienced by the North African candidate in the profession of caregiver assistant. Moreover, discrimination on the grounds of disability is twice as high in the profession of caregiver assistant, a role which requires more interaction with public, as in the profession of administrative manager. We do not find any evidence of a difference in callback rates based on place of residence or gender. Finally, we cannot conclude that hiring discrimination is systematically lower in the public sector than in the private sector, nor that being eligible for a public subsidy reduces hiring discrimination against the disabled candidate.

The Benefits of Active, Person-Centered Job Placement: Results From Service Providers Undergoing Organizational Transformation Away From Sheltered Employment

Recent national and state-level policy changes have created an imperative for service providers to transform from sheltered work to competitive integrated employment. The current study sought to understand the impact of participation in a 1-year, comprehensive technical assistance pilot designed to support service providers to transform away from sheltered workshops towards encouraging competitive integrated employment and delivering job development supports. Findings showed competitive integrated employment is attainable if given the appropriate organizational emphasis and when effective job development practices are implemented to a strategically identified group. Implications highlight the values of slowly preparing individuals for competitive integrated employment; facilitating an active, person-centered job placement process; engaging key stakeholders in job development; and focusing on individual job placement in the context of organizational transformation.

Developing a Multilevel Scale to Assess Retention of Workers with Disabilities

Purpose Persons with disabilities (PwD) face difficulties in employment. Despite extensive research on PwD in the workplace, there is lack of research on the factors behind retaining or terminating the job of a PwD. This study aims to address this gap by developing the Retaining Workers with Disability (RWD) model. Method Predicated on 1032 respondents with employment decision authority, we performed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for convergent and discriminant validity of the RWD model. Next, we developed the two-rank model RWD-II and employed CFA for validation. Results We presented a dual-facet measurement tool for assessing employer attitudes towards retaining PwD in the workplace. Two dominant factors were measured, direct and indirect work-related items. Indices for both models (one and two-rank) showed a good fit. Conclusion Our study highlighted two major factors influencing managers in the decision-making process of retaining workers with disabilities as follows: direct and indirect work-related concerns. The measure was validated using the RWD scale. By providing the tool to identify attitudes towards PwD work retention, we offer the first step in identifying and changing a negative approach toward this population in the workplace. Practical contributions are discussed.

Disability and remote work during the pandemic with implications for cancer survivors

PURPOSE

This article examines the extent to which employees worked from home because of the pandemic, focusing on differentials between people with and without disabilities with implications for cancer survivors.

METHODS

We use data on COVID-19 from the Current Population Survey over the May 2020 to June 2021 period. We present descriptive statistics and the results from regression and decomposition analysis.

RESULTS

While workers with disabilities were more likely than those without disabilities to be teleworking before the pandemic, they were less likely to be teleworking as a result of the pandemic. Differences in the occupational distribution account for most of this difference. People with disabilities experienced relatively more pandemic-related hardships as well, compared to people without disabilities, including a greater chance of not being able to work due to their employer losing business and more difficulty in accessing medical care.

CONCLUSIONS

Many people with disabilities benefit from working from home, and the pandemic has increased employer acceptance of these arrangements, but the potential is limited by the current occupational distribution.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS

While the CPS dataset does not have information on cancer survivorship, we use other data to impute that the average likelihood of cancer survivorship is 12.6% among people with disabilities, more than double the 6.1% rate among those without a disability. Hence cancer survivorship is partly picked up by the CPS questions on disability, and our results have implications for cancer survivors, especially because increased opportunities for telework have the potential to help cancer survivors maintain economic stability and avoid financial hardship.

COVID-19 and the labour market outcomes of disabled people in the UK

The economic impact of COVID-19 has exacerbated inequalities in society, but disability has been neglected. This paper contributes to this knowledge gap by providing a comprehensive analysis of the differential labour market impact of COVID-19 by disability in the UK. Using data from the Labour Force Survey before and during the pandemic it estimates disability gaps in pre-pandemic risk factors, as well as changes in labour market inequality nearly one year on. Disabled workers are found to face higher COVID-19-related economic and health risks, including being more likely to work in ‘shutdown’ industries, and in occupations with greater proximity to others and exposure to disease. However, established measures of inequality, including the disability employment and pay gap suggest limited impact of COVID-19 in 2020. Nevertheless, the increase in the probability of being temporarily away from work, even among otherwise comparable workers, is 40% higher for disabled workers and consistent with disproportionate use of the government's job retention scheme. While the reasons for this are likely to be complex, there is a risk that it will contribute to future disability-related labour market inequality.

School and Employment-Related Barriers for Youth and Young Adults with and without a Disability during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Greater Toronto Area

Purpose: Youth and young adults are particularly vulnerable to the socio-economic impacts of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). The purpose of this study was to explore barriers to school and employment for youth with and without a disability during the pandemic. Methods: This qualitative comparison study involved in-depth interviews with 35 youth and young adults (18 with a disability; 17 without), aged 16–29 (mean age 23). An interpretive, thematic analysis of the transcripts was conducted. Results: Our findings revealed several similarities and some differences between youth and young adults with and without disabilities regarding barriers to school and employment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Key themes related to these barriers involved: (1) difficult transition to online school and working from home (i.e., the expense of setting up a home office, technical challenges, impact on mental health), (2) uncertainty about employment (i.e., under-employment, difficult working conditions, difficulty finding work, disability-related challenges) and (3) missed career development opportunities (i.e., canceled or reduced internships or placements, lack of volunteer opportunities, uncertainties about career pathway, the longer-term impact of the pandemic). Conclusion: Our findings highlight that youth and young adults with disabilities may need further support in engaging in meaningful and accessible vocational activities that align with their career pathway.

The impact of disability on employment and financial security following the outbreak of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in the UK

BACKGROUND

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have a greater impact on people with disabilities than non-disabled people. Our aim was to compare the short-term impact of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and first lockdown on the employment and financial security of working age adults with and without disabilities in the UK.

METHODS

Secondary analysis of data collected in Wave 9 and the special April, May and June COVID-19 monthly surveys of 'Understanding Society', the UK's main annual household panel study.

RESULTS

During the first 3 months of the introduction of the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, respondents with disability were more likely than their peers to be working reduced hours and experience higher levels of financial stress. These differences were attenuated, but not eliminated, when estimates were adjusted to take account of pre-lockdown financial status.

CONCLUSIONS

Working age adults with disability were particularly disadvantaged by the financial impact of the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has stated the need for a disability-inclusive COVID-19 government response. The results of our analysis suggest that these pleas have either not been heeded, or if measures have been implemented, they have so far been ineffectual in the UK.

Telework After COVID: A "Silver Lining" for Workers with Disabilities?

Purpose The COVID pandemic was a severe blow to all workers, but it may ultimately have a silver lining for some workers with disabilities if it makes work from home easier and more acceptable. In addition, the pandemic is shaking up traditional workplace structures and causing employers to rethink how essential tasks can be done, which may broaden their views of workplace accommodations. We assess the potential for the pandemic to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Methods This article analyzes pre-COVID data on disability and home-based work from three representative data sources-the American Community Survey, American Time Use Survey, and Current Population Survey. We employ both cross-tabulations and regressions to predict work at home. Results We find that workers with disabilities are more likely than those without disabilities both to work primarily from home and to do any work at home. This is true for both employees and self-employed workers. Workers with disabilities face similar wage gaps in on-site and home-based work, indicating that while increased availability of home-based work may create more employment opportunities for workers with disabilities, it is unlikely to erase wage disparities. While workers with disabilities are currently more likely to be working primarily from home, only 34% are in occupations with high potential for home-based work, compared to 40% of workers without disabilities. Conclusions Workers with disabilities are currently more likely to work from home and many may benefit from expanded work-at-home opportunities, but the types of jobs they hold constrain this potential. Research is needed to see how home-based work evolves as the economy recovers from the pandemic over the next several years.

Rising Income Inequality Through a Disability Lens: Trends in the United States 1981-2018

OBJECTIVES

In a context of rising income inequality and policies to improve rights and inclusion for persons with disabilities, this paper examines income inequality trends by household work limitation status in the United States from 1981-2018.

METHODS

Data comes from the March Supplement of the Current Population Survey using the work limitation disability measure to estimate decomposable Generalized Entropy measures of income inequality, and progressivity of government transfers and disability payments.

RESULTS

Over the 1981-2018 period, inequality within the group of households with work limitations has been around 30 percent higher than inequality within the group of households without work limitations. Both households with and without work limitations have seen a similar 70 percent rise in income inequality since 1981. Progressivity of government transfers and disability payments increased among households with limitations, but not among other households.

CONCLUSIONS

Income inequality is higher within the group of households with work limitations compared to other households and has been rising for both groups. Policies aimed to enhance the economic and social participation of persons with disabilities over this period may have mitigated this rising trend. Disability considerations should be part of research and policy on income inequality.

Decision support system for designing and assigning ergonomic workplaces to workers with disabilities

Workers with disabilities are still lagging in employment rates compared to the healthy workforce. Those workers are also more sensitive for stress at work and possible injuries that are usually connected with non-adequate workplace design. Generally, absenteeism presents high costs for companies and costs can be even higher if injuries at work occur. Therefore, companies face the problem of identifying a suitable workplace for workers with disabilities and supplying the needed requirements. The purpose of our research was to develop a decision support system that would aid in the process of identifying and categorising disabilities of workers, and assigning the most suitable workplace with needed requirements in an integrated work environment to ensure high safety, productivity and satisfaction. The developed decision support system is also a step toward prevention of injuries at work. The usefulness of the system has been shown in a case study of a large-sized production company. Practitioner summary: The purpose of our research was to develop a decision support system that would aid companies to identify a suitable workplace for workers with disabilities with needed requirements in an integrated work environment to ensure high safety, productivity and satisfaction with lower costs. Abbreviations: OSHA: occupational safety and health act; UN Convention: The United Nations Convention; EU Directive 89/654/EEC: European Union directive concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the workplace; ICF: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health; ICD: The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems; RULA: rapid upper limb assessment; OWAS: ovaco working analysing system.

The growing American health penalty: International trends in the employment of older workers with poor health

Many countries have reduced the generosity of sickness and disability programs while making them more activating - yet few studies have examined how employment rates have subsequently changed. We present estimates of how employment rates of older workers with poor health in 13 high-income countries changed 2004-7 to 2012-15 using HRS/SHARE/ELSA data. We find that those in poor health in the USA have experienced a unique deterioration: they have not only seen a widening gap to the employment rates of those with good health, but their employment rates fell per se. We find only for Sweden (and possibly England) signs that the health employment gap shrank, with rising employment but stable gaps elsewhere. We then examine possible explanations for the development in the USA: we find no evidence it links to labor market trends, but possible links to the USA's lack of disability benefit reform and wider economic trends.

Perceived organizational support-burnout-satisfaction relationship in workers with disabilities: The moderation of family support

Our study tests the perceived organizational support-burnout-satisfaction relationship based on stressor-strain-outcome model of stress (Koeske & Koeske, ) and on the conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, ) in workers with disabilities employed in ordinary or competitive jobs (open labor market), analyzing the relationship between perceived organizational support, family support, job satisfaction and burnout. We use a sample of 246 workers with physical, motor, sensory and psychological disabilities working in ordinary jobs. To test our proposed model we used a regression-based path analysis using PROCESS software, which is a computational tool for estimating and probing interactions and the conditional indirect effects of moderated mediation models. We find that the positive relationship between organizational support and job satisfaction was partially mediated by the levels of cynicism and the relationship between burnout and job satisfaction was moderated by family support. Employees with low support from family had identical job satisfaction with high burnout or low burnout, but employees with high support from family when they had high burnout had lower job satisfaction than when they had low burnout, indicating that the support outside work could have a negative effect in workers' life. Practical implications and future research are discussed and proposed.

Disability at Work: A Look Back and Forward

Purpose This article presents new evidence on employment barriers and workplace disparities facing employees with disabilities, linking the disparities to employee attitudes. Methods Analyses use the 2006 General Social Survey to connect disability to workplace disparities and attitudes in a structural equation model. Results Compared to employees without disabilities, those with disabilities report: lower pay levels, job security, and flexibility; more negative treatment by management; and, lower job satisfaction but similar organizational commitment and turnover intention. The lower satisfaction is mediated by lower job security, less job flexibility, and more negative views of management and co-worker relations. Conclusion Prior research and the present findings show that people with disabilities experience employment disparities that limit their income, security, and overall quality of work life. Technology plays an increasingly important role in decreasing employment disparities. However, there also should be increased targeted efforts by government, employers, insurers, occupational rehabilitation providers, and disability groups to address workplace barriers faced by employees with disabilities, and by those with disabilities seeking to return to work.