Workplace Accommodations and the Labor Force Status of Persons with Disabilities

The aim of the study is to examine the role of unmet needs for workplace accommodations (WPA) in the labor force status of persons with disabilities (PWD) aged 25-64 years.

The study used data from the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability and multinomial logistic regressions to estimate the predicted probabilities of employment, unemployment, detachment from the labor force, and retirement. Product terms were used to examine if the association between unmet needs for WPA and these employment outcomes depended on severity of disability and age group.

The findings show that the probability of employment was far lower for PWD with unmet needs for WPA than it was for their counterparts without unmet needs, after controlling for disability-related and sociodemographic characteristics. While having more severe disabilities associated with a lower employment rate, this occurred in the context of unmet needs for WPA, as there was no difference between persons with milder and more severe disabilities without unmet needs. Unmet needs for WPA had age-specific consequences and were associated with a higher probability of unemployment and detachment from the labor force among PWDs aged 25-34 years and a higher probability of retirement among PWD aged 55-64 years.

Unmet needs for WPA are a barrier to the employment chances of many PWD and eliminating these unmet needs could increase their inclusion in the labor force.