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People with a disability are less likely to have completed a bachelor's degree than people with no disability. Among people age 25 and older in 2014, 16.4 percent of people with a disability had completed at least a bachelor’s degree. By comparison, 34.6 percent of people with no disability had completed at least a bachelor’s degree. About 1 in 5 people with a disability had less than a high school diploma, compared with 1 in 10 people with no disability.
Educational attainment | With a disability | With no disability | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |
Total |
27,794,000 | 100.0 | 181,440,000 | 100.0 |
Less than a high school diploma |
5,917,000 | 21.3 | 18,226,000 | 10.0 |
High school graduates, no college |
10,242,000 | 36.8 | 51,818,000 | 28.6 |
Some college or associate degree |
7,088,000 | 25.5 | 48,606,000 | 26.8 |
Bachelor's degree and higher |
4,547,000 | 16.4 | 62,790,000 | 34.6 |
People who have completed higher levels of education were more likely to be employed than were those with less education. At all levels of education, however, people with a disability were much less likely to work than were people with no disability. For example, 26.1 percent of people with a disability who had completed at least a bachelor’s degree were employed in 2014; among college graduates with no disability, 75.9 percent were employed.
Educational attainment | With a disability | With no disability |
---|---|---|
Less than a high school diploma |
7.9 | 51.5 |
High school graduates, no college |
14.3 | 62.5 |
Some college or associate degree |
21.3 | 69.5 |
Bachelor's degree and higher |
26.1 | 75.9 |
These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see “Persons with a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics—2014” (HTML) (PDF). For more discussion about data on people with disabilities, see the Commissioner’s Corner blog, Why This Counts: How BLS data support the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, People with a disability less likely to have completed a bachelor's degree at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/people-with-a-disability-less-likely-to-have-completed-a-bachelors-degree.htm (visited October 31, 2024).