Fewer adults with disabilities employed

U.S. adults with disabilities are less likely to be employed, and those employed held jobs with lower earnings and earned less than co-workers, officials say. The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey showed between 2008 and 2010, individuals without disabilities were about three times more likely to be employed than individuals with disabilities. Jennifer Cheeseman Day of the Census Bureau said overall, individuals with disabilities accounted for 9.4 million, or 6 percent, of the 155.9 million civilian labor force. More than half of all workers with a disability were concentrated in four occupation groups: service workers at 18.2 percent, administrative support at 15 percent, sales workers at 10.4 percent and management, business and finance at 9 percent, the survey found. Among occupations with 100,000 or more people, dishwashers had the highest disability rate at 14.3 percent, followed by refuse and recyclable material collectors at 12.7 percent, personal care aides at 11.9 percent and janitors and building cleaners at 11.8 percent, the report said. Fifty-two percent of workers with disabilities earned less than $25,000 in the previous year, compared with just 38 percent of workers with no disabilities.