Despite overall job market gains, people with disabilities are struggling to keep up, new figures from the U.S. Department of Labor suggest.

The unemployment rate for Americans with disabilities dipped to 10.8 percent in November, the Labor Department said Friday. That’s down from 11.3 percent the month prior.

However, the drop is due, at least in part, to an increasing number of people giving up on looking for work altogether. Overall, fewer individuals with disabilities were employed in November as compared to the previous month even though the number of people considered to be jobless also declined.

The news comes as the economy as a whole saw a surge in hiring, adding 321,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said. The unemployment rate for the general population remained unchanged at 5.8 percent.

Federal officials 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.

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