Job market tough for some

Everyone is aware that current unemployment levels have risen to levels not seen since the early 1980s. Across the country, workers are finding themselves out of a job and thrown into a fiercely competitive job market.

In Texas alone, unemployment grew from 5.1 percent in September 2008 to 8.2 percent in September of this year, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But a group that already is viewed with wariness by some employers also is suffering from higher unemployment rates. People with disabilities have a higher unemployment rate than the general population, and these individuals are now competing with more people for fewer positions.

An estimated 16.2 percent of people with disabilities were unemployed in September, compared to a 9.2 percent national unemployment rate for people with no disabilities. The Current Population Survey, which contributes to BLS statistics, started including questions to identify people with disabilities in June 2008, and in October the unemployment rate for people with disabilities was 11.1 percent, as opposed to a national rate of 5.9 percent for people without disabilities.

“One of the main reasons the unemployment rate has gone up with people with disabilities is because the overall rate has gone up,” said Tina Ramirez, employment services manager for Goodwill Industries of Fort Worth.

Once a person with disabilities is unemployed, history has shown it can be a difficult path to get back into the workforce, Ramirez said, because employers are wary of these potential employees.

“I’m not going to say every employer, but history has shown that most employers will choose the employee who requires less time,” she said.

People with disabilities are entitled to reasonable accommodations at their workplaces, and Ramirez said the idea of having to invest in modifications or training can scare off employers, even if modifications are minor and no more training than any other new employee is necessary.

Juanita Stewart, supportive employment coordinator for Goodwill, said most people with disabilities who come in looking for placement assistance are told upfront that it will probably take three to six months of constant effort before they can find a job.

With the job market so competitive because of overall high unemployment rates, though, the people who come through Goodwill are probably looking at closer to six to nine months now, Stewart said.

Daphne Brookins is a human services coordinator for the city of Fort Worth and is a committee member on the Texas Governor’s Commission on People with Disabilities. She said employers need to better educate themselves about what employees with disabilities can bring to the table — their skills and knowledge as a good employee as well as tax benefits and possible assistance from outside groups to help make accommodations.

One of the ways employers can become educated is through individuals who have disabilities who are interviewing for jobs. Brookins said individuals need to educate themselves on the benefits of hiring people with disabilities in order to sell themselves better to employers. Goodwill is one place where people with disabilities can get assistance in how to present themselves to employers as well as finding jobs that match their skill sets.

“I think they need to educate themselves as well as the employers because a lot of people who have disabilities, they don’t know the pluses of being hired,” she said.

Brookins and the staff at Goodwill emphasize the need for education. State agencies, local committees and federal guidelines all offer insight in hiring people with disabilities, and Brookins and Stewart pointed out that employment aspects of disability are not familiar even to all those who have disabilities.

“Disability is something you can’t control,” Stewart said.

Disability is something that can come with an illness or accident — a person may suddenly find themselves with a disability after a car accident, for example. On the other hand, some people are born with disabilities or have conditions that worsen over time. Regardless, there may not be a great deal that can be done about the disability, but there is a lot that can be done about employers opening up to those individuals and those potential employees working to advance themselves, Stewart said.