The Department of Labor released the first official statistics on the employment status of people with disabilities today. The first set of data covers October 2008 through January 2009; statistics will be updated monthly.
Perhaps not surprisingly, people with disabilities have higher rates of unemployment compared to their non-disabled peers--13.2 percent compared to 8.3 percent.
In November, the Department of Labor also released a survey that measured employer attitudes towards workers with disabilities. That report (pdf) is loaded with interesting information; for example, 33 percent of large companies reported hiring a person with disabilities in the past year, compared to 8 percent of medium sized companies.
Also, public employers are more likely to recruit people with disabilities than their private-sector counterparts. And no more than about 14 percent of companies of any size were aware of the Employer Assistance and Recruiting Network, a service of the Labor Department that assists employers in locating and recruiting qualified workers with disabilities.
Thanks to Disability Scoop for the tip.