Changes in the Employment Status of People With and Without Disabilities in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Andrew J Houtenville, Shreya Paul, Debra L Brucker
PMID 33839102WHAT IT FOUND
During early pandemic months, employment fell for people with and without disabilities.
Unemployment rose, and the share of unemployed people on temporary layoff increased sharply. By January 2021, employment and unemployment had partly improved, but neither group had fully returned to February 2020 levels.
Key findings
01From February 2020 to April 2020, employment dropped from 31.1% to 26.4% among people with disabilities and from 74.8% to 63.2% among people without disabilities.
02Unemployment rose from 3.0% to 6.5% among people with disabilities and from 2.9% to 10.5% among people without disabilities over the same period.
03From February 2020 to April 2020, the percentage not in the labor force rose from 22.3% to 26.3% for people without disabilities, while no increase was detected for people with disabilities.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
In April through June 2020, some people classified as absent from work for other reasons may have been misclassified, so temporary layoff and unemployment percentages may be underestimated. The survey cannot identify people who were employed and also looking for work, or on temporary layoff and also looking for work. The analysis did not consider time trends independent from the pandemic. The authors say the finding that people with disabilities stayed engaged in the labor force is suggestive, not definitive. The paper does not analyze industry or occupation. The disability measure codes any difficulty across hearing, vision, cognition, walking, self-care, and independent living, so it does not distinguish which difficulty was present.
Declared interests
No author conflict-of-interest statement is included in the supplied text. The article metadata lists non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the lack of a detectable change in labor-force status for people with disabilities as proof that they were not affected by the pandemic. Employment fell and unemployment rose for them, and the authors say this labor-force finding is suggestive, not definitive.