Employment: Disability
(asked on 6th September 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of the disability employment gap; and what information her Department holds on the disability employment gap by (a) condition and (b) type of disability.
Evidence shows that the disability employment gap is narrowing, although we are determined to see further improvements, so that everyone who can work is given the right support and opportunities to do so.
Table 1 shows the gap in employment rates between working age disabled and non-disabled people, based on the estimates published by ONS on the website at the following link:
Table 1: Employment rates for disabled and non-disabled people aged 16-64, Q2 2013 – Q2 2017
| Disabled employment rate (%) | Non-disabled employment rate (%) | Gap |
2013 | 43.6 | 76.8 | 33.1 |
2014 | 44.9 | 78.4 | 33.5 |
2015 | 45.9 | 79.2 | 33.3 |
2016 | 47.9 | 80.1 | 32.2 |
2017 | 49.2 | 80.6 | 31.3 |
Source: Labour Force Survey
Notes:
- Estimates relate to quarter 2 (April-June) each year.
- Percentages are rounded to the nearest 0.1 percentage point. Components may not sum exactly to totals due to rounding.
- Estimates exclude a small number of respondents who did not report whether or not they were disabled.
- Data is subject to sampling variation and is not seasonally adjusted.
- Due to an apparent discontinuity, ONS has applied health warnings to estimates for periods after Q2 (April to June) 2017. We are awaiting further advice from ONS on how these more recent figures can be used in future.
Table 2 shows how employment rates for disabled people with different health conditions or broad types of disability compare to that of non-disabled people.
Table 2: Employment rate of disabled people by health condition, Q2 (April to June) 2017
| Disabled employment rate (%) | Total number of people |
Problems or disabilities (including arthritis or rheumatism) connected with arms or hands | 53.7 | 458 |
Problems or disabilities (including arthritis or rheumatism) connected with legs or feet | 56.5 | 765 |
Problems or disabilities (including arthritis or rheumatism) connected with back or neck | 56.4 | 1,036 |
Difficulty in seeing | 54.9 | 85 |
Difficulty in hearing | 62.3 | 65 |
Speech impediment | - | - |
Severe disfigurements, skin conditions, allergies | 64.0 | 82 |
Chest or breathing problems, asthma, bronchitis | 54.4 | 433 |
Heart, blood pressure or blood circulation problems | 49.1 | 412 |
Stomach, liver kidney or digestive problems | 60.3 | 361 |
Diabetes | 55.0 | 259 |
Depression, bad nerves or anxiety | 46.3 | 1,068 |
Epilepsy | 28.0 | 92 |
Severe or specific learning difficulties (mental handicap) | 16.8 | 184 |
Mental illness, or suffer from phobia, panics or other nervous disorders | 27.1 | 476 |
Progressive illness not included elsewhere (e.g. cancer, multiple sclerosis, symptomatic HIV, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy) | 37.7 | 416 |
Other health problems or disabilities | 52.5 | 810 |
| ||
Any mental health main condition | 40.3 | 1,544 |
Any musculoskeletal main condition | 55.9 | 2,259 |
Any mental health main condition or musculoskeletal main condition | 49.6 | 3,803 |
| ||
Total disabled | 49.2 | 7,097 |
Total non-disabled | 80.6 | 33,792 |
Source: Labour Force Survey
Notes:
- Percentages are rounded to the nearest 0.1 percentage point. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000.
- Data is subject to sampling variation and is not seasonally adjusted.
- Precision of statistics is limited by small sample sizes. Estimates based on fewer than 10,000 people (weighted) are not shown and are denoted ‘-‘.
- The total for all disabled people is slightly higher than the sum of the number of health conditions due to some respondents not reporting their specific health condition(s).
- Those with any mental health condition are considered to be those who reported having 'depression, bad nerves or anxiety' or 'mental illness, or suffer phobia, panics, or other nervous disorders'.
- Those with any musculoskeletal condition are considered to be those who reported having 'problems or disabilities (including arthritis or rheumatism) connected with arms or hands', 'problems or disabilities (including arthritis or rheumatism) connected with back or neck' or 'problems or disabilities (including arthritis or rheumatism) connected with legs or feet'.