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In 2017, 18.7 percent of people age 16 and older with a disability were employed. That compares with 65.7 percent of people without a disability. More workers with a disability worked in education and health services (21.6 percent) than in any other industry. Education and health services employed 33.8 percent of women with a disability, compared with 11.5 percent of men with a disability.
Industry | Total with a disability | Total with no disability | Men with a disability | Men with no disability | Women with a disability | Women with no disability |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total employed |
100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction |
0.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
Information |
1.9 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 1.6 |
Wholesale trade |
1.9 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 1.0 | 1.5 |
Agriculture and related industries |
3.1 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 0.8 |
Public administration |
4.7 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.4 |
Transportation and utilities |
5.2 | 5.3 | 7.0 | 7.6 | 3.0 | 2.7 |
Financial activities |
5.3 | 6.9 | 4.9 | 6.1 | 5.8 | 7.8 |
Construction |
5.9 | 7.0 | 9.8 | 12.0 | 1.1 | 1.4 |
Other services |
6.2 | 4.8 | 5.6 | 4.4 | 6.9 | 5.3 |
Leisure and hospitality |
9.0 | 9.3 | 8.0 | 8.6 | 10.3 | 10.1 |
Manufacturing |
10.2 | 10.0 | 13.3 | 13.3 | 6.6 | 6.3 |
Professional and business services |
12.0 | 12.3 | 13.2 | 13.4 | 10.5 | 11.1 |
Retail trade |
12.7 | 10.8 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 12.9 | 11.1 |
Education and health services |
21.6 | 22.5 | 11.5 | 10.8 | 33.8 | 35.8 |
Retail trade employed 12.7 percent of workers with a disability, compared with 10.8 percent of workers with no disability. Agriculture and related industries employed 3.1 percent of workers with a disability, which was twice the percentage of workers with no disability.
Employed people with a disability were nearly equally likely to work in manufacturing (10.2 percent) and in leisure and hospitality (9.0 percent) as people without a disability (10.0 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively).
These data are from the Current Population Survey. See "Persons with a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics — 2017" for more information. For more statistics on people with a disability, see Demographics: Disability.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Employment of workers with a disability in 2017 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/employment-of-workers-with-a-disability-in-2017.htm (visited October 12, 2024).