Telework After COVID: A "Silver Lining" for Workers with Disabilities?

Purpose The COVID pandemic was a severe blow to all workers, but it may ultimately have a silver lining for some workers with disabilities if it makes work from home easier and more acceptable. In addition, the pandemic is shaking up traditional workplace structures and causing employers to rethink how essential tasks can be done, which may broaden their views of workplace accommodations. We assess the potential for the pandemic to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Methods This article analyzes pre-COVID data on disability and home-based work from three representative data sources-the American Community Survey, American Time Use Survey, and Current Population Survey. We employ both cross-tabulations and regressions to predict work at home. Results We find that workers with disabilities are more likely than those without disabilities both to work primarily from home and to do any work at home. This is true for both employees and self-employed workers. Workers with disabilities face similar wage gaps in on-site and home-based work, indicating that while increased availability of home-based work may create more employment opportunities for workers with disabilities, it is unlikely to erase wage disparities. While workers with disabilities are currently more likely to be working primarily from home, only 34% are in occupations with high potential for home-based work, compared to 40% of workers without disabilities. Conclusions Workers with disabilities are currently more likely to work from home and many may benefit from expanded work-at-home opportunities, but the types of jobs they hold constrain this potential. Research is needed to see how home-based work evolves as the economy recovers from the pandemic over the next several years.

Dead end jobs or a path to economic well being? The consequences of non-standard work among people with disabilities.

How do non-standard jobs affect the economic well-being of workers with disabilities, and what happens when non-standard workers use disability lawsuits to challenge discrimination and improve their economic opportunities? This study uses data from the Current Population Survey, the Survey of Income and Program Participation, and a Lexis search of legal cases to help answer these questions. Temporary employment, independent contracting, and part-time employment are almost twice as likely among workers with disabilities as among those without disabilities. Non-standard workers with disabilities receive lower pay and fewer benefits due both to the types of job they hold, and disability gaps within job types, which contribute to their high poverty rates. They would continue to have high poverty rates even if these pay gaps were eliminated, however, because they work fewer hours than non-standard workers without disabilities and are concentrated in lower-paying occupations. In attempting to improve their opportunities through disability lawsuits, non-standard workers prevail in only a small minority of cases. Several policy implications of the lawsuits and survey data are discussed.