Disability employment in the U.S. passes 40% for the first time

The employment rate for working-age Americans with disabilities reached 40.3% in September, the first time it has passed 40%, according to the nTIDE report from the Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire's Institute on Disability. It came out on October 2 and is built on federal labor statistics.

The numbers

The share of working-age people with disabilities who have a job went from 39.8% in August to 40.3%. Labor force participation inched from 43.4% to 43.8%.

Compared with September 2025, the ratio is up 2.1 percentage points. The report counts about 6.9 million workers with disabilities, or 4.6% of the U.S. workforce. It covers people aged 16 to 64.

The release says the figure breaks the post-COVID employment plateau.

Gains in a weak month

The context is a soft month overall. According to the report, the economy added 29,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate stood at 4.2%.

Even so, employment gains among people with disabilities exceeded those among people without disabilities, the release says.

One possible reason, with a caveat

John O'Neill of the Center for Employment and Disability Research offered one explanation. He suggested that "rising prices, necessitating people with disabilities to work to help support their families" may be a factor.

That is a hypothesis, not a finding. The release does not test it, and it does not say which jobs or industries the gains came from, or whether the new workers are in full-time or part-time roles.

The numbers also come from a monthly survey, so a single month can be noisy. The test of whether this is a new level or a high point will be the next few reports. The work is paid for by a federal disability research institute, NIDILRR.