People with a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics Summary

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Tuesday, March 3, 2026 		                       USDL-26-0364

Technical information:  (202) 691-6378  *  cpsinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/cps 
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov


                 PEOPLE WITH A DISABILITY: LABOR FORCE CHARACTERISTICS -- 2025


In 2025, 22.8 percent of people with a disability were employed, the U.S. Bureau of Labor 
Statistics reported today. This ratio is little different from the prior year. In contrast, 65.2
percent of those without a disability were employed, down by 0.3 percentage point over the year. 
The unemployment rate for people with a disability increased by 0.8 percentage point to 8.3 percent
over the year, while the rate for those without a disability increased by 0.3 percentage point to 
4.1 percent.

The data on people with a disability are collected as part of the Current Population Survey, a 
monthly sample survey of about 60,000 households that provides statistics on employment and 
unemployment in the United States. The collection of data on people with a disability is sponsored
by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy. For more information, see 
the Technical Note in this news release.

 ____________________________________________________________________________________________
|											     |
|                    Federal Government Shutdown Impact on Disability Data		     |
|											     |
| The Current Population Survey (CPS) for October 2025 was not collected due to the federal  |
| government shutdown. As a result, annual estimates for 2025 household survey data were     |
| produced using 11-month averages that exclude October. Consequently, 2025 annual estimates |
| are not strictly comparable with annual averages for other years.                          |
|                                                                                            |
| For information about the impact of the federal government shutdown on CPS data, see       |
| www.bls.gov/cps/methods/2025-federal-government-shutdown-impact-cps.htm.                   |
|____________________________________________________________________________________________|


Highlights from the 2025 data:

 --Half of all people with a disability were age 65 and over, nearly three times larger than the 
   share for those with no disability. (See table 1.)

 --Across all age groups, people with a disability were much less likely to be employed than were 
   those with no disability. (See table 1.)
 
 --The unemployment rate for people with a disability was double the rate for those with no 
   disability. (See table 1.)
 
 --Workers with a disability were nearly twice as likely to work part time as workers with no
   disability. (See table 2.)
 
 --Workers with a disability were more likely to be self-employed than were those with no 
   disability. (See table 4.)
 
Demographic characteristics

People with a disability accounted for about 13 percent of the population in 2025. Those with a
disability tend to be older than people with no disability, reflecting the increased incidence of
disability with age. In 2025, half of those with a disability were age 65 and over, compared with
about 18 percent of those with no disability. Overall, women were more likely to have a disability
than were men, partly reflecting the greater life expectancy of women. Among the major race and 
ethnicity groups, people who are White (about 13 percent) or Black or African American (about 14 
percent) had a higher prevalence of disability than those who are Asian (about 6 percent) or 
Hispanic or Latino (about 9 percent). (See table 1.)

Employment

The employment-population ratio--that is, the percentage of the population that is employed--for 
people with a disability was 22.8 percent in 2025, little changed from the prior year. In contrast,
the ratio for those with no disability decreased by 0.3 percentage point to 65.2 percent. The lower
ratio among people with a disability reflects, in part, their older age profile, as people age 65 
and over are less likely to be employed regardless of disability status. However, across all age 
groups, people with a disability were much less likely to be employed than were those with no 
disability. (See tables A and 1.)

Among people with a disability ages 16 to 64, the employment-population ratio, at 38.1 percent in 
2025, changed little over the year. Similarly, the ratio for people with a disability age 65 and 
over was little changed at 7.8 percent. (See table A.)

Among people age 25 and older, people with a disability were less likely to have completed a 
bachelor's degree or higher than were those with no disability. In 2025, about 24 percent of all
people with a disability had completed a bachelor's degree or higher compared with about 42 percent
of those with no disability. Among both groups, those who had attained higher levels of education 
were more likely to be employed than were those with less education. For all levels of education, 
people with a disability were much less likely to be employed than their counterparts with no 
disability. (See table 1.)

Workers with a disability were more likely to be employed part time than those with no disability.
In 2025, about 30 percent of those with a disability usually worked part time compared with about 
17 percent of workers without a disability. About 4 percent of workers with a disability and 3 
percent of those without a disability worked part time for economic reasons. These individuals
would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been
reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table 2.)

In 2025, people with a disability were more likely than those with no disability to work in sales
and office occupations (21.0 percent compared with 18.6 percent, respectively) and in service 
occupations (20.0 percent compared with 16.5 percent). People with a disability were also more 
likely to work in production, transportation, and material moving occupations (13.8 percent 
compared with 12.0 percent). However, people with a disability were much less likely to work in
management, professional, and related occupations than were their counterparts with no disability
(37.5 percent compared with 43.9 percent). People with a disability were also somewhat less likely
to be employed in natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations (7.7 percent 
compared with 9.0 percent). (See table 3.)

A larger share of people with a disability were self-employed than were those with no disability in
2025 (9.1 percent compared with 5.9 percent). Those with a disability were slightly more likely to
be employed by the federal government than were their counterparts with no disability (3.4 percent
compared with 2.4 percent). Conversely, people with a disability were slightly less likely than
those with no disability to be employed by local government (5.4 percent compared with 6.2 percent). 
The proportions of people employed by state governments were little different among those with and 
without a disability. People with a disability were also less likely to be employed as private wage
and salary workers than were those with no disability (76.8 percent compared with 80.7 percent). 
(See table 4.)

Unemployment

The unemployment rate for people with a disability was about twice that of those with no disability
in 2025. The unemployment rate for people with a disability increased by 0.8 percentage point to 
8.3 percent in 2025, while the rate for people without a disability increased by 0.3 percentage 
point to 4.1 percent. (See table A.)

In 2025, the unemployment rate for men with a disability increased by 0.9 percentage point to 8.4
percent and the rate for women with a disability was little changed at 8.1 percent. Among the major
race and ethnicity groups, the jobless rates for people with a disability who are Black or African
American (11.8 percent) or Hispanic or Latino (9.5 percent) were higher than the rate for those who
are White (7.3 percent). The unemployment rate for people with a disability who are Asian was 7.9 
percent. These rates showed little change over the year. (See table 1.)

Among people age 25 and older, unemployment rates were much higher for people with a disability 
than for those with no disability across all educational attainment groups. The unemployment rate 
of people with a disability who had completed a bachelor's degree or higher rose by 0.9 percentage 
point over the year to 5.3 percent in 2025, while the jobless rate of their counterparts with no
disability increased by 0.3 percentage point to 2.5 percent. (See table 1.)

Not in the labor force

People who are neither employed nor unemployed are considered not in the labor force. A large 
proportion of people with a disability--about 75 percent--were not in the labor force in 2025, 
compared with about 32 percent of those with no disability. In part, this too reflects the older 
age profile of people with a disability; people age 65 and over were much less likely to 
participate in the labor force than were those in younger age groups. Across all age groups, 
however, people with a disability were less likely to participate in the labor force than were 
those with no disability. (See table 1.)

For both people with and without a disability, the vast majority of those who were not in the labor
force did not want a job. Among those not in the labor force, about 3 percent of those with a 
disability wanted a job in 2025, lower than the nearly 7 percent of those without a disability. 
Among people who wanted a job, a subset is classified as marginally attached to the labor force.
These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior
12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (People marginally 
attached to the labor force include discouraged workers.) About 1 percent of people with a 
disability were marginally attached to the labor force in 2025. (See table 5.)