Fifteen years ago, my colleague, Michelle Maroto, and I embarked on a project to better understand the employment experiences of people with disabilities. Many papers later, we decided to undertake a large-scale field experiment studying disability and discrimination in Canada. The COVID-19 pandemic temporarily put a stop to much of our experiment. We were sending fictional resumes to real job vacancies, and we had to pause this work when the pandemic altered the reality of work for everybody. We focused our attention instead on the socioeconomic experiences of people with disabilities during the pandemic.
COVID-19 had the greatest impact on the most vulnerable in our society and served as a reminder of the interconnected nature of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Vulnerable groups, including older adults, marginalized communities and people with disabilities were amongst those most impacted by the pandemic. To prioritize the well-being of these groups, we must eliminate any biases in the labor market ultimately aiming to reduce inequalities and eliminating barriers to employment for those with disabilities.
In our work, we often encounter the adage “last hired, first fired” which means that people with disabilities are the first to be let go during a major crisis or shock, and last to re-enter the labour market.
Earlier this year, we published a study in the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation focusing on job displacement rates among people with disabilities over a 14-year period which included the 2008 Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. Perhaps not surprisingly, we found that people with disabilities were more likely to experience job displacement (i.e., involuntarily job loss, due to, for example, a plant closing, or a shift being abolished) compared to those without disabilities. Interestingly though, job displacement was more severe during the recession than it was during the pandemic.
In a forthcoming article, we use the same data to show that although the speed of reemployment between disabled and non-disabled workers was consistent over time, the overall time to reemployment was slightly less during the pandemic than the Great Recession. Moreover, the earnings penalty for reemployed workers with disabilities was less severe during the pandemic than in the recession. Whatever the case, these two periods represent different realities for workers.
When we finally were able to conclude our field experiment following COVID-19, we found that generally, people with disabilities received callbacks to the administrative or office jobs they applied for at the same rate as those without disabilities. This was less the case with labourer positions where in fact, disabled job applicants were significantly less likely to receive callbacks even though their resumes indicated the same ability and skill as applicants without disabilities.
We’ve just presented this work at this year’s American Sociological Association meeting, and have been sharing it at other conferences/seminars throughout the year. Although we are still sifting through the data, we believe much of what is going on has to do with biases and misperceptions about disability and work – everything from low productivity to providing expensive accommodations to fear of litigation. At the same time, for some occupations, things appeared to have improved, and that’s a good thing for reducing employment and earnings gaps.
Being out of work can have long-lasting negative effects on labor market outcomes, including lower wages, prolonged unemployment, and increased economic insecurity. Indeed, our work on Canadians with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates the extent of job losses and those discouraged from continuing to look for work during that time. Those who continued to work shifted to remote work and many experienced increased workloads.
Employment, reemployment, and earnings after finding new work following the shock of COVID-19 suggest that broader structural changes during the pandemic have created some positive changes for many workers with disabilities. Grand scale changes including greater flexibility affecting a vast majority of workers have been in line with "universal accessibility" practices that could foster greater workplace inclusion. Yet, many of these changes are at risk as employers begin to push for “back to the office” policies.
No doubt, workers with disabilities continue to face many institutional and attitudinal hurdles at work. It is important to note, as one recent study has, that the kinds of accommodations and flexibility that allowed workers with disabilities during the pandemic to keep working and improve their earnings were only available in certain occupations and these varied by race, class, and gender. This means that policies seeking to further institutionalize things like flexible scheduling, remote work, and universal access must consider how people with different types of disabilities in their intersection with other statuses like race who occupy different kinds of jobs lead to varied labour market outcomes.
Having a commitment to addressing the intersections of the SDGs can combat against inequitable labor market outcomes, enabling us to collectively work towards a more just and accessible future for all.
About the author
Dr. David Pettinicchio is an associate professor of sociology and in the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto, Canada. His work lies at the intersection of inequalities, social policy, culture, and disability. He has written two books on the relationship between the disability movement and social policy. He recently co-edited the Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Disability with Michelle Maroto and Robyn Brown. He is currently serving as associate graduate chair in sociology, and as co-editor of the Canadian Review of Sociology.