Disability Employment Crosses 40 Percent Threshold for First Time on Record

Americans with disabilities reached a historic employment milestone in September 2026, even as the broader U.S. labor market showed unmistakable signs of cooling. According to the latest National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE) Jobs Report, issued jointly by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability, the employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities climbed to 40.3 percent, the first time the measure has ever surpassed the 40 percent mark. The achievement stands out against a national backdrop in which employers added only 29,000 jobs and the official unemployment rate ticked upward to 4.2 percent. While overall job growth slowed to a crawl, employment and labor force participation among people with disabilities continued to advance, extending a pattern of steady gains that researchers have tracked month after month since the recovery from the pandemic-era disruption.

The headline figure comes from the employment-to-population ratio, one of the most widely watched indicators in labor economics because it captures the share of an entire population that is actually working, rather than merely the share of active job seekers who hold jobs. For people with disabilities aged 16 to 64, the ratio rose from 39.8 percent in August 2026 to 40.3 percent in September 2026, an increase of 0.5 percentage points, or 1.3 percent in relative terms. For people without disabilities in the same age range, the ratio edged up from 74.6 percent to 75.0 percent, a gain of 0.4 percentage points. Because the ratio divides the number of people working by the total population and multiplies by 100, it is sensitive to both hiring trends and demographic shifts, making its sustained rise for workers with disabilities a meaningful signal of genuine labor market inclusion rather than a statistical artifact.

John O’Neill, PhD, director of the Center for Employment and Disability Research at Kessler Foundation, framed the September numbers as a turning point after a long period of stagnation. He noted that the employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities reached an all-time high of 40.3 percent, breaking through what researchers had described as the post-COVID employment plateau. O’Neill also pointed to a possible economic driver behind the breakthrough, observing that last month’s numbers may have crossed the 40 percent barrier because rising prices are compelling people with disabilities to work in order to help support their families. That interpretation underscores a recurring theme in disability employment research: labor force outcomes for this population are shaped not only by demand-side factors such as employer hiring practices and workplace accommodations, but also by cost-of-living pressures that can pull additional workers into the labor market.

The labor force participation rate, a companion indicator that measures the percentage of the population either working, actively seeking work within the past four weeks, or on temporary layoff or furlough, also moved higher in September. For people with disabilities aged 16 to 64, participation increased from 43.4 percent in August to 43.8 percent in September, a rise of 0.4 percentage points that represents a 0.9 percent relative gain. Among people without disabilities, the participation rate inched up from 77.9 percent to 78.1 percent, a 0.2 percentage point increase. The parallel movement in both indicators matters because rising participation alongside rising employment suggests that more people with disabilities are not only finding jobs but are also entering the labor market with reasonable prospects of being hired, rather than becoming discouraged and dropping out of the count altogether.

Andrew Houtenville, PhD, professor of economics and director of the UNH Institute on Disability, described the past two months of labor market figures for people with disabilities as remarkable, emphasizing that labor force participation for this group also reached a record level of 43.8 percent in September. His assessment highlights how unusual the current stretch has been: in many prior economic cycles, workers with disabilities tended to experience disproportionate losses during slowdowns, as employers cut flexible or part-time arrangements and hiring pipelines narrowed. The fact that both employment and participation set records in a month when national job growth slowed to 29,000 positions suggests that the structural gains of recent years, including expanded remote work options, stronger employer disability inclusion initiatives, and tighter labor markets that encouraged firms to tap previously underutilized talent pools, may be proving more durable than earlier cyclical improvements.

The year-over-year comparison reinforces that durability. Compared with September 2025, the employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities rose from 38.2 percent to 40.3 percent, an increase of 2.1 percentage points, while labor force participation climbed from 42.1 percent to 43.8 percent, up 1.7 percentage points. Over the same period, people without disabilities saw far more modest movement, with their employment-to-population ratio rising from 74.7 percent to 75.0 percent, a gain of just 0.3 percentage points, and their participation rate increasing from 77.9 percent to 78.1 percent, up 0.2 percentage points. The widening gap between the two groups’ growth rates indicates that the recent improvements for workers with disabilities are outpacing the general trend, narrowing, however slowly, a long-standing disparity in labor market outcomes that has persisted for decades.

In terms of raw numbers, the September data show that among workers aged 16 to 64, the 6,918,000 workers with disabilities represented 4.6 percent of the total 151,785,000 workers in the United States. That share has been gradually rising as employment gains for people with disabilities outpace overall workforce growth, a shift with implications for employers, policymakers, and disability services providers alike. A larger and more visible population of workers with disabilities increases demand for accessible workplaces, reasonable accommodations, and inclusive human resources practices, while also expanding the consumer and tax base contributions of a group that has historically faced elevated rates of poverty and economic exclusion. Researchers caution, however, that a 40 percent employment ratio still leaves a substantial majority of working-age adults with disabilities outside the workforce, so the milestone should be read as progress along a continuum rather than a destination.

The nTIDE report draws on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics but is customized by the UNH Institute on Disability to focus on working-age adults between 16 and 64, a refinement that excludes retirement-age workers and provides a sharper picture of prime labor market activity. The monthly series, funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research and Kessler Foundation, has become a standard reference for tracking how economic changes affect workers with and without disabilities. Alongside each release, the nTIDE team hosts a Lunch and Learn webinar that gives the public a chance to question the researchers directly and hear from invited panelists on current disability-related research and events, an outreach model designed to translate dense federal statistics into actionable knowledge for advocates, employers, and state agencies.

The October 2, 2026 webinar featured guest presenter Charyl S. Yarbrough, PhD, of the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development, joining O’Neill, Houtenville, and Kimberly Knackstedt, executive director at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities. Recordings of the session and previous episodes are archived at ResearchonDisability.org/nTIDE, where users can review the month-to-month and year-to-year comparisons that underpin the headline findings. For economists studying disability employment, the September 2026 report offers a case study in how a slowing aggregate economy can coexist with record outcomes for a specific population, and for disability advocates, it provides fresh evidence that sustained policy attention and employer engagement can push long-stuck indicators past symbolic thresholds. Whether the 40 percent mark becomes a new floor or a brief peak will depend on the months ahead, but for now the data document a genuine and measurable expansion of economic opportunity for Americans with disabilities.

Subject of Research: Employment trends for people with disabilities in the U.S. labor market

Article Title: Employment for people with disabilities in September: Surpassing 40% for the first time

Article References: Employment for people with disabilities in September: Surpassing 40% for the first time. (n.d.). Original publication

Image Credits: AI Generated

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Keywords: disability employment, nTIDE, Kessler Foundation, labor force participation, employment-to-population ratio, Bureau of Labor Statistics, University of New Hampshire, labor market, unemployment rate, economic inclusion, workforce data, September 2026 jobs report