The Labor Department’s monthly jobs report showed another small drop in unemployment for people with disabilities, marking the second straight month the rate stayed below 13%. The 12.7% figure was actually the lowest since April, but the 146,000 new jobs created in November was a significant improvement over the 69,000 added back in the spring.
Reuters correspondent Lucia Mutikani’s article about the DOL report said the total number of jobs was a bit of a pleasant surprise. Most economists thought Superstorm Sandy would have an adverse impact on hiring. However, she also noted that September and October gains were revised downward by 49,000 jobs, and that the 7.7% unemployment rate — the lowest since December, 2008 — was in large part attributable to people giving up on seeking employment instead of getting a job.
Some economists speculated the employment figures would have been more positive if lawmakers in Washington, D.C., had been able to resolve the ongoing disagreement over the federal budget that threatens to trigger $600 billion in tax increases and spending reductions. Nomura Securities chief economist Lewis Alexander told Mutikani:
Once Washington policymakers resolve the near-term fiscal and other policy challenges that have undermined business confidence, we expect the pace of recovery, and job growth to begin to accelerate next year.
Those employment sectors where people with disabilities typically find employment were among the ones making significant gains, including retail (52,600 jobs), business support services (43,000), and temporary workers (18,000). This last category certainly benefited from the spike in seasonal hires that corresponds with holiday shopping every year.
But those who are looking deeper into the numbers are seeing signs of an economic rebound, including Josh Brodesky of The Arizona Republic. His story in advance of the Friday jobs report showed the “employment services” growth accounted for 12.5% of the 46,600 jobs gained in Arizona over the past year. He writes:
These temp-worker gains differ from the typical uptick of seasonal workers in retail and other fields around the holidays. This growth has occurred throughout the year, and many of the temp jobs created have been in information technology, administrative and office work, and project management.
With growth in temp occupations corresponding to the types of positions people with disabilities receive training for through programs like ATI’s StarWorks, the opportunity for a significant boost in employment for people with disabilities is not out of the question in 2013. Optimism was high at this time last year as well, when the unemployment rate for people with disabilities was plummeting and the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program had just proposed new guidelines for tracking the recruiting and hiring of these individuals for companies seeking government contracts. As the 2012 elections fade farther into the country’s rearview mirror, movement on these important issues finally may be possible.
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Image by quinn. anya (Quinn Dombrowski).