Labour Market Outcomes of Persons with Disabilities in British Columbia
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LABOUR MARKET OUTCOMES OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES IN BRITISH COLUMBIA JUNE 2009 Labour Market Outcomes of Persons with Disabilities in British Columbia BC Stats Funding for this project was made possible through the Labour Market Information initiative under the Canada-British Columbia Labour Market Agreement (LMA), which is administered for BC by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development. Labour Market Outcomes of Persons with Disabilities in British Columbia i BC Stats Symbols used in this report . not available/no data X suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act E use with caution F too unreliable to be published Labour Market Outcomes of Persons with Disabilities in British Columbia ii BC Stats Table of Contents Table of Contents Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 12 Prevalence of Disability ............................................................................................................. 13 Differences in B.C.’s Disability Rate by Age and Gender ....................................................... 13 What Types of Disabilities Were Most Common? ................................................................... 14 How Severe Were the Disabilities Experienced? ...................................................................... 16 Educational Attainment of Persons with and without Disabilities ....................................... 17 Changes in Disability Rates between 2001 and 2006 ............................................................... 19 Interprovincial and National Comparisons of Disability ....................................................... 22 Labour Force Status of Persons with Disabilities in B.C. ..................................................... 26 Age Standardization of Labour Force Rates ............................................................................. 26 Labour Force Status of Disabled and Non-Disabled Persons in 2006 ................................... 26 How Does the Participation Rate Differ for Persons with and without Disabilities?............ 28 Employment Rate in B.C. ............................................................................................................... 32 Disabled Persons Seeking Employment—The Unemployment Rate in B.C. ......................... 35 Sub-Provincial Labour Market Comparisons for B.C. .......................................................... 37 Labour Market in 2006 for More Urban Areas versus the Rest of the Province .................. 37 What is B.C.’s Participation Rate at the Sub-Provincial Level? ................................................ 39 How Does B.C.’s Employment Rate Vary by Geography?........................................................ 42 Does Geography Make a Difference to the Unemployment Rate in B.C.? .............................. 45 Labour Market Developments in B.C. Since 2001 ................................................................. 46 Labour Force Status—2001 versus 2006 ..................................................................................... 46 Has B.C.’s Participation Rate Changed Since 2001? ................................................................... 47 Has the Employment Rate in B.C. Increased for Disabled Persons?........................................ 49 Did B.C.’s Low Unemployment Rate Show a Similar Decline for Disabled Persons? .......... 52 Interprovincial and National Comparisons of the Labour Market in 2006 ....................... 53 How Do the Participation and Employment Rates in B.C. Compare to the other Western Provinces? ...................................................................................................................................... 53 B.C.’s Unemployment Rate in the Context of the Western Provinces ................................... 54 Occupation, Industry and Income of Persons with Disabilities .......................................... 56 What were the Occupations of the Disabled in 2006? ............................................................. 56 Little Difference in the Industry of Persons with and without Disabilities.......................... 58 Including Government Transfers How Does the Total Income Compare Between Persons With and Without Disabilities? ................................................................................................... 59 Does Having a Disability Alter Employment Income Prospects? ......................................... 62 Limitations and Barriers to Employment ............................................................................... 65 Barriers to Looking for Work ...................................................................................................... 65 Labour Market Outcomes of Persons with Disabilities in British Columbia iii BC Stats Table of Contents Completely Prevented from Working ....................................................................................... 65 Limited in the Amount or Kind of Work .................................................................................. 66 Workplace Accommodations Required for Persons with Activity Limitations .................. 67 Workplace Accommodations Provided to Employed Persons with Disabilities ................ 69 Perceived Discrimination ............................................................................................................. 69 Appendix A: References .................................................................................................... A.1 Appendix B: Definitions .................................................................................................... B.1 Appendix C: Sub-Provincial Geographies .......................................................................C.1 Labour Market Outcomes of Persons with Disabilities in British Columbia iv BC Stats Executive Summary Executive Summary Persons with disabilities is a segment of the population that is not fully engaged in the labour market. Using data from the 2006 and 2001 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey for the population aged 15 to 64, this profile aims to highlight the prevalence of disability, the labour force status of persons with disabilities, changes since 2001, and provide sub-provincial and inter-provincial comparisons. As well, the occupation, industry, and income are reviewed, followed by barriers to labour market entry. In addition to persons with disabilities, the population without disabilities is profiled to provide meaningful context and relevant comparisons where applicable. It is important to note that disabled persons are significantly older on average than persons without disabilities; therefore, all participation, employment and unemployment rates for 2001 and 2006 presented for the population with disabilities have been age standardised to the age distribution of the non-disabled population of Canada in each respective year. The high-level results for B.C. obtained from this profile include: Prevalence of Disability Females reported higher rates of disability than men Of the 2.8 million British Columbian’s between the ages of 15 and 64 in 2006, 12.8% (or 355,430) indicated they had a disability. The proportion with disabilities increases with age from a low of 6.3% for those 15 to 29 years of age to a high of 25.1% among those between 55 and 64 years of age. Females reported higher rates of disability than males both overall and within each age category. Mobility or activity limitations were the most common disabilities The most common types of disabilities among the working age population were those related to mobility/activity limitations, including pain (9.6%), mobility (8.0%) and agility (7.5%). Psychological, learning and hearing difficulties were the next most prevalent disabilities. Mild disabilities were more common among men than women About 4 in 10 (39.0%) persons with disabilities experienced a severe or very severe limitation, while more than one-third (33.9%) indicated they had a mild limitation. Males more often reported mild disabilities compared to females (37.3% vs. 31.1%, respectively). Labour Market Outcomes of Persons with Disabilities in British Columbia 7 BC Stats Executive Summary Although more disabled persons than non-disabled persons hadn’t completed high school, some other levels of education were fairly similar The highest level of education attained by disabled and non-disabled persons was fairly similar for some levels. However, while more disabled persons completed an apprenticeship certificate or diploma (14.5% vs. 8.9%, respectively), more disabled persons also did not graduate high school (23.4% vs. 15.4%), and fewer attained a university certificate, diploma or degree (17.1% vs. 28.7%). In addition, fewer disabled males than females achieved a high school education, with the gap between disabled and non-disabled persons being three times larger for males. Labour Force Status Disabled persons were less often taking part in the labour force Of 355,430 disabled persons of working age in B.C., 200,640 were employed, 136,720 were not in the labour force and 18,060 were unemployed. Disabled persons were significantly more often not in the labour force compared to those without disabilities (38.5% vs. 21.5%, respectively). Persons