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Employment characteristics of people with a disability in 2018

October 29, 2019

The labor force participation rate for people with a disability ages 16 to 64 has risen every year since 2015. In 2018, 33.3 percent of people with a disability ages 16 to 64 were in the labor force. For people without a disability, the labor force participation rate for all people ages 16 to 64 was 76.9 percent in 2018. 

Labor force participation rate of the population ages 16 to 64, by disability status and gender, 2009–18
Year People with a disability Men with a disability Women with a disability People without a disability Men without a disability Women without a disability

2009

35.2% 37.9% 32.5% 77.8% 83.7% 72.0%

2010

33.9 36.7 31.2 77.1 83.0 71.4

2011

32.3 35.0 29.6 76.6 82.5 70.9

2012

31.6 34.4 28.9 76.5 82.5 70.8

2013

31.4 34.2 28.8 76.2 82.3 70.3

2014

30.2 32.7 27.8 76.2 82.3 70.4

2015

30.5 33.0 28.1 76.1 82.2 70.2

2016

31.2 34.2 28.3 76.4 82.5 70.5

2017

32.6 35.2 30.0 76.7 82.6 71.0

2018

33.3 35.8 30.9 76.9 82.7 71.2

Among those age 25 and older, nearly half of the population with a disability in 2018 had completed some education beyond high school, compared to almost two-thirds of those without a disability.  People with a disability were twice as likely as those without a disability not to have completed high school.

Educational attainment of the population 25 and over by disability status, 2018
Educational attainment Less than a high school diploma High school graduates, no college Some college or associate degree Bachelor's degree and higher

People with a disability

18.3% 36.1% 26.6% 19.0%

People with no disability

8.9 27.3 26.0 37.7

These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see “Persons with a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics — 2018.” For more statistics on people with a disability, see Demographics: Disability.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Employment characteristics of people with a disability in 2018 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2019/employment-characteristics-of-people-with-a-disability-in-2018.htm (visited April 23, 2024).

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