An annual government snapshot of employment among Americans with disabilities finds some signs of improvement even as this population continues to struggle finding work.

The U.S. Department of Labor said that 17.9 percent of Americans with disabilities were employed in 2016.

That represents a 0.4 percentage point increase over the previous year and comes as the general population saw a boost of just 0.3 percent during the same period, according to the report released this month.

Nonetheless, the Labor Department noted that the unemployment rate for people with disabilities at 10.5 percent for the year was “about twice that of those with no disability.”

The data comes from a monthly government survey of 60,000 households looking at employment trends and includes questions about individuals with disabilities who are age 16 or older and who do not live in institutions.

People with disabilities were more likely than others to be working part-time and to be self-employed, the Labor Department said. This group was also less likely to have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

About 8 in 10 people with disabilities were considered to be out of the labor force because they did not have jobs and were not seeking work, the report found. By comparison about 30 percent of people in the general population were in this category.

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