From recession to pandemic: Displacement among workers with disabilities from 2007 through 2021

In their article for the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, From recession to pandemic: Displacement among workers with disabilities from 2007 through 2021, Michelle Maroto and David Pettinicchio find that people with disabilities were approximately twice as likely as those without disabilities to experience job displacement, but more during times of economic turmoil. They discuss the need for policies with multipronged efforts to limit such displacement and mitigate its effects, including work training programs, accessible and continuous upskilling opportunities, and social supports such as unemployment and other benefits.

David Pettinicchio is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Toronto, also affiliated faculty in the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

Citation

Maroto, Michelle and Pettinicchio, David, From recession to pandemic: Displacement among workers with disabilities from 2007 through 2021 (February 18, 2024). Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4730548

Abstract

BACKGROUND: With at least one-quarter of the U.S. adult population reporting one or more disabilities in 2020, people with disabilities represent a large and diverse group of individuals who often face significant barriers in the labor market, especially job displacement – involuntary job loss due to external factors.
OBJECTIVE: We examine how rates of job displacement varied for people with different types of disabilities from 2007–2021, a period that includes the 2008 Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.
METHODS: We use data from six waves of Current Population Study Displaced Worker Supplement (CPS DWS, N = 344,729) and a series of logistic regression models to examine differences in displacement by disability status and type.
RESULTS: People with disabilities were approximately twice as likely as those without disabilities to experience job displacement, but more during times of economic turmoil. Although displacement disparities by disability status were decreasing from a high of 6.5 percentage points during the Great Recession, the pandemic increased the gap to 5.8 percentage points.
CONCLUSION: Involuntary job loss among people with disabilities is exacerbated by exogenous shocks. We extend work on disability and displacement, incorporating the COVID-19 pandemic in our discussion of explanations of both labor market disadvantage and precarity.

Michelle Maroto and David Pettinicchio