Previous posts have dealt with the employment challenges facing people with ASD (e.g., sheltered workshops that segregate and stigmatize). Monthly labor statistics do not have a separate category for autism, for overall data for the disabled may give some hint of the magnitude of the problem. Shaun Heasley writes at Disability Scoop:
Some 13.3 percent of those with disabilities were jobless in June, according to a monthly employment report from the U.S. Department of Labor released late last week.
That’s an increase from 12.9 percent unemployment the previous month.
Meanwhile, the jobless rate for the general population remained flat at 8.2 percent as the economy added 80,000 new jobs, a figure seen by many as disappointing.The situation is even more disturbing than these numbers suggest. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the labor force participation rate for people with disabilities was a mere 20.5 percent, compared with 70 percent for the non-disabled population.
