Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment Rate May Be Dangerously Misleading

Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment Rate May Be Dangerously Misleading



On February 6, for the first time ever, the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) officially reported the Current Population Survey (CPS), employment data about people with disabilities. These data have been gathered since June, 2008 when six questions about disability were permanently added to the CPS, a monthly survey the federal government uses to estimate the unemployment level and rate.

Having people with disabilities included in the official count can provide important information about who is currently looking for work; how people with disabilities, who are looking for work, compare to other populations, and; of particular employment trends over time. However, this data source does not provide insight into people who are out of the labor force or working very little, which is a significant portion of the disability community and of significant concern to the disability community.

Accounting for People with Disabilities Not in the Labor Force

The Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment rate only takes in account people who are jobless, looking for jobs, and available for work. The BLS unemployment rate does not take into account people with disabilities who are unemployed and not looking for work. It should not be assumed that if an individual with a disability is ready to work but not looking for work that the individual is not interested in employment, but this is the case with the BLS classification system. The vast majority of the people with disabilities who are unemployed are identified by the BLS as "not in the labor force" instead of being identified, perhaps and seemingly much more appropriately, as unemployed.

How People with Disabilities Were Identified

A secondary issue in using the monthly employment statistic is the definition of disability. The BLS has been clear that the Current Population Survey was not designed to measure disability. The questions currently used are broad in scope, including both health and disability. It relies on the individual to define whether their condition prevents them from working. Someone who is employed may answer very differently from someone who is unemployed or classified as "not in the labor force" but has a similar disability.

People with vision loss were identified by the CPS if they reported that they or someone in their household is blind or has serious difficulty seeing when wearing glasses. This definition was similar to that of the definition used in the most recently implemented National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Numbers of people with disabilities indicated by the most recently implemented NHIS are significantly larger than numbers of people with disabilities indicated by the CPS. This big difference in the total number of people with disabilities in the U.S. population is another aspect of the BLS employment data that is challenging disability data analysts upon first review of the employment data.

The Numbers

Having mentioned all this concerning information, it becomes even more obvious how the January 2009 labor force statistics that pertain to people with disabilities can be very misleading at first glance.

The January 2009 BLS data showed that of the approximately 27 million people with disabilities, there were approximately 5 million people with disabilities that were employed, 800,000 people with disabilities that were unemployed, and 21 million people with disabilities "not in the labor force." Thus, of the 27 million people identified with disabilities, approximately 21 million people identified with disabilities were accounted for as "not in the labor force". More focus needs to be put on this number of people with disabilities that are unemployed and classified as "not in the labor force" than on the BLS unemployment rate. The BLS unemployment rate overlooks all those with disabilities that are unemployed and not looking for work.

For your additional information, of the 27 million people with disabilities reported by the CPS in January 2009, only 6 million of them were classified as part of the civilian labor force. To calculate the unemployment rate, the BLS divided the 800,000 unemployed people with disabilities into the 6 million people with disabilities classified in the civilian labor force to derive an unemployment rate of 13.2%. It is important to note too that the unemployment rate refers to the rate of unemployment only among those that were identified with disabilities and classified as part of the civilian labor force.

Lastly, investigators may be looking for an employment rate to complement the unemployment rate provided by this data source. An employment rate is not provided. An employment-population ratio is provided. The employment-population ration divides the 5 million people with disabilities that were employed into the 27 million people identified with disabilities to show that the employment-population ratio for people with disabilities was 20% as of January 2009. Investigators should be careful to note that 20% is not the employment rate, but that 20% is the employment-population ratio for people with disabilities as of January 2009 according to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Another Update Coming Soon

AFB will be attending the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) briefing on this labor force data later this week in Washington, DC. Please stand by and look for another update soon as AFB continues to work on this issue.