People with disabilities in employment

7.7 million people of working age (16-64) reported that they were disabled in April-June 2020, which is 19% of the working age population.

Employment

Of these, an estimated 4.1 million were in employment, an increase of 97,000 from a year previously.

53.6% of disabled people were in employment, up from 52.6% a year previously. The employment rate for people who are not disabled was 81.7%, up slightly from 81.5%.

Unemployment

288,000 disabled people were unemployed. This was 30,000 fewer than the number who were unemployed a year previously.

The unemployment rate for disabled people was 6.5% in April-June 2020. This compared to an unemployment rate of 3.5% for people who are not disabled.

Economically Inactive

3.3 million disabled people of working age were economically inactive. These people were not in work and not looking for work. This was an increase of 67,000 from a year before.

Disabled people were considerably more likely than those who are not disabled to be economically inactive. While, the economic inactivity rate for disabled people was 42.6%, the corresponding figure for those who are not disabled was 15.3%.

Disability Employment Gap

Disabled people have an employment rate that is 28.1 percentage points lower than that of people who are not disabled. This difference is often referred to as the disability employment gap.