People with disabilities are three times less likely to be
employed and, when they are working, they’re earning 75 cents
for each dollar others are paid. Between 2008 and 2010,
individuals with disabilities accounted for 6 percent of the
workforce, according to data released this week from the U.S.
Census. Such workers were most often employed in service and
administrative support roles. Positions as janitors or building
cleaners, cashiers, dishwashers and in retail sales were among
the most common cited. For their labor, more than half of
workers with disabilities earned less than $25,000 annually, the
Census found. “Even within the largest occupations, employed
workers with disabilities, on average, earned less than
similarly employed workers without disabilities,” said Jennifer
Cheeseman Day, the assistant chief for employment
characteristics at the Census Bureau. The data, which was
collected as part of the Census’ American Community Survey, is
just the latest to highlight the persistent struggle facing p