The small gains in U.S. employment during March had a positive impact for people with disabilities. Shaun Heasley of Disability Scoop reported last Friday that the latest figures from the Department of Labor showed unemployment for people with disabilities dropping from 15.8% to 15.2% over the past month, as the economy added 120,000 jobs overall. After a February report that saw a three-point setback, it’s nice to see employment for people with disabilities trending in the same direction as the rest of the nation.
What may be even better news is that the drop in the jobless rate came as a surprise to some economic forecasters, which could indicate that the current recovery is a sign of stability and not an anomaly. Bloomberg Businessweek reporters Timothy R. Homan and Carlos Torres say they spoke with 80 experts for a report they filed on Monday entitled, “U.S. Hiring Seen Recovering, Reflects Optimism,” and the overall feeling was that the economy was “better equipped” now to sustain momentum than in previous years. One of them was JPMorgan chief economist Bruce Kasman:
… [A] slowdown in productivity following a surge during the recession means companies may not be able to squeeze more output from current workers, said [Kasman]…’It’s much more attractive to hire people right now, to invest in human capital,’ said Kasman.
If industries are ready to add employees, now is a critical time to spread news about the value of hiring people with disabilities. Institutions like ATI provide career training and vocational counseling that can assimilate these people into the workplace; teaching them the skills they need to be productive and providing the workplace support that helps them grow and thrive.
A commentary by Paul Rendine in Sunday’s Delmarva Daily Times succinctly outlines the qualities possessed by people with disabilities who take part in programs like ATI’s StarWorks; and he does it in descriptions that translate to bottom-line benefits for the businesses:
They continue to provide the employee attributes that all employers are looking for. They are more on time to work, more productive on the job, more loyal to their employer than their non-disabled counterparts and are also much safer on the job.
Even if a company isn’t ready to hire full-time employees, it can learn the benefits of hiring people with disabilities through a contract services agreement. By doing this, they get a team of willing employees to perform assembly, packing, sorting, and other fulfillment needs for their operation on a temporary basis without incurring long-term costs; and they provide people with disabilities with wages and work experience.
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Image by Shared Interest, used under its Creative Commons license.