Job prospects for people with disabilities appeared to fall behind in February even as the Labor Department reported that the economy added some 227,000 jobs.
New statistics released Friday from the U.S. Department of Labor indicate that the unemployment rate for Americans with disabilities rose to 15.8 percent in February. That’s a sharp increase over the previous month when 12.9 percent unemployment was reported.
At the same time, the job market as a whole continued to gain steam. The unemployment rate for the general population remained steady at 8.3 percent, as more hiring occurred in fields ranging from hospitality and business services to manufacturing.
The Labor Department began tracking employment among people with disabilities in October 2008. There is not yet enough data compiled to establish seasonal trends among this population, so statistics for this group are not seasonally adjusted.
Data on people with disabilities covers those over the age of 16 who do not live in institutions. The first employment report specific to this population was made available in February 2009. Now, reports are released monthly.
I am a mother of a 22yr old cognitive delayed son who is having trouble getting a job. The reason is that corporations will not take a chance on these hard working productive citizens. They see them more as a liabliltiy. They end up working in shelter workshops. They are worth every chance to become effective citizens in this world. Obama needs to help these young talented citizens.
Pardon my “tired” response of “no suprise here”. We adults with disabilities have always been “left behind” with respect to employment & being able to “support ourselves”. Many of us, like myself who have technical skills & ablilties are passed-over in the hiring process in the “real world” & are left out of the economy. People take one look @ a person in a wheelchair or a person standing in a 3-piece suite who is wearing leg braces & using Loftstrand Crutches & automatically assume that person is “incapable” of doing any kind of a job.
State Vocational Rehabilitation Services for the Disabled are really no help many times in “changing” any employer’s attitude(s) regarding any disabled person’s being “hireable”.
As an Autistic with Cerebral Palsy, NH Voc. Rehab. presented me to potential employers as a “Nut Case”, which is “manure” to be polite about it.
Oh! As a “real” graduate of Wentworth Institute (www.wit.edu), Class of 1985, Bachelor of Science, Electronic Engineering Technology, NH Voc. Rehab. up & considered my “hard won” & “studied for” Engineering Degree to be “100% Fraudulent” & “fake”.
Why?
In their minds, “Autistics” can not possibly be “capable” of “advanced” academic achievement.
Which in my own mind is “manure”.
I know a bunch of Autistics with advanced academic achievement.
Anyway, when it comes down to employment, Voc. Rehab. Systems @ the State Level only consider 99+ % of disabled people only useful for “food, fileing, & filth” type “dead-end” employment.
Oh! Here in NH there is a “related issue” tied to employment. NH House Bill # 1560 would allow NH to “permanently” ditch MEDICARE & MEDICAID for the disabled & elderly. Even if a disabled person obtains employment, there will be no health-care safety net in New Hampshire to help with medical coverage.
NH HB 1560 is an attempt to “repeal” ObamaCare as the Tea Party calls it.
There needs to be a bigger push by both legislators, innovators and the disabled community to utilize current technology in such a way as to make it more accessible to pwd and thereby creating opportunities for employment where there were none. Also, small business grants and loans should most definitely be created and in at least one case refunded, to help create entrepreneurship opportunities. Trying to shift the prevailing attitudes seems to be a futile effort. During the Clinton Administration, there was a 28 percent rate of employment for pwd. And that was during a so called good economy.