The U.S. Department of Labor has released disability employment statistics for last month.
In July 2010, the percentage of people with disabilities in the labor force was 21.5. By comparison, the percentage of persons with no disability in the labor force was 70.6. The unemployment rate for those with disabilities was 16.4 percent, compared with 9.5 percent for persons with no disability, not seasonally adjusted. DOL Office of Disability Employment Policy.
The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) has released a new report entitled “Six Federal Partners Listening Sessions”, which summarizes the input received from the public during “listening sessions” held across the country from January through March 2010. The purpose of these sessions was to collect information and comments about best practices and key issues to be addressed by federal workforce systems regarding the employability, employment, workforce participation, retention, and promotion of people with disabilities.
A link to the report is at http://www.dol.gov/odep/dltour/six-partners-listening.htm#intro.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in the Federal Register on July 23 seeking input from the public on ways to strengthen its regulations requiring federal contractors to take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified individuals with disabilities. The agency invites the public to help revise the regulations implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
A link to the ANPRM is here. Public comments must be submitted by September 21, 2010.
The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment (ODEP) has announced the official theme for October’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month – “Talent Has No Boundaries: Workforce Diversity INCLUDES Workers with Disabilities.” “US Labor Department Office of Disability Employment Policy announces National Disability Employment Awareness Month theme,” ODEP News Release, 5/13/10.
The U.S. Department of Labor unveiled a new tool designed to help employers ensure their employment policies and practices do not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities. The tool is the online Disability Nondiscrimination Law Advisor and is available here.
“US Labor Department Helps Employers Understand Responsibilities under Disability Nondiscrimination Laws,” DOL Press Release, 5/4/10.
The Disability Statistics Compendium is the first of what is intended to be an annual publication of statistics on people with disabilities and government programs that serve the population with disabilities. The publication is modeled after the Statistical Abstracts of the United States, published yearly by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Compendium is designed to serve as a reference guide to government publications. At the bottom of each table, the source of data appearing in each table is presented. These referenced sources contain additional statistical and information about the way the data were collected and the statistics were generated.
Citation: Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics and Demographics. 2009. Annual Compendium of Disability Statistics Compendium: 2009 Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics, Hunter College.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division has announced a series of joint Town Hall Listening Sessions on EEOC’s proposed regulations under the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA). The purpose of the joint sessions is to obtain direct input from the business/employer communities and the disability and disability advocacy communities on the proposed regulations. The following schedule was published in the Federal Register on October 22, 2009:
- October 26, 2009: Oakland CA
- October 30, 2009: Philadelphia PA
- November 17, 2009: Chicago IL
- November 20, 2009: New Orleans LA
Additional information on the EEOC’s upcoming Town Halls, as well as details on where they will take place, can be found in the Federal Register notice here.
