What jobs do people with disabilities want? The same as anyone else

Do non-employed people with disabilities want to work, and if so, what types of jobs do they want? Do employed people with disabilities have the types of jobs they want? Researchers seeking to explain the low employment rate among people with disabilities have focused primarily on skill gaps, employment disincentives from disability income, accommodation mandates, and (to a lesser extent) employer attitudes and unwelcoming corporate cultures. There has been little attention paid to the attitudes of non-employed people with disabilities and job fit among employed people. This paper uses the 2006 General Social Survey, a representative national survey that has disability information and a special supplement on worker preferences, to examine the above questions. We find that, relative to their non-disabled counterparts, non-employed people with disabilities are (a) as likely to want a job but less likely to be actively searching, (b) as likely to have prior job experience, and (c) similar in their views of the importance of income, job security, and other valued job characteristics. Also, the preferences of employed people with disabilities and their job fit are generally similar to those of their non-disabled counterparts. Comparisons are also made by type of impairment. The results indicate that the low employment rate of people with disabilities is not due to their reluctance to work or different job preferences.