To support the development of policies and practices/tools used to increase and improve employment opportunities for persons with a disability, ODEP conducts and oversees a wide variety of research and evaluation activities. This section includes select research and analytical reports, insights into disability employment statistics, and information on our grants and cooperative agreements.
Research Activities at ODEP
Latest Reports
Disability and Current Population Survey (CPS) COVID-19 Supplemental Data
(June 2022) Five questions were added to the basic monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) in May 2020, to address the unprecedented changes occurring as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This COVID-19 supplemental data permits further insights into the issues of telework/work-at-home, loss of work due to the employer closing or losing business, receiving pay for lost work, prevention from looking for work, and inability to receive necessary medical care. Researchers with the Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy utilize this data to provide understanding of how these impacts differed for people with disabilities.
Disability and the Digital Divide: Internet Subscriptions, Internet Use and Employment Outcomes
The research brief examines the disability digital divide and how it may relate to disability employment. In addition, the brief observes associations of disability status, home internet subscription types and internet use with employment retention between 2019 and 2020. Further, it examines access rates to home internet subscriptions from 2015 to 2019 and online activity participation rates in November 2019 among people with and without disabilities.
Employment of Persons with a Disability: Analysis of Trends during the COVID-19 Pandemic– Findings in Brief
(February 2022) Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been unprecedented changes in employment for America’s workforce. Many businesses ceased or scaled back operations and many state governments issued stay-at-home orders, prompting historically rapid declines and subsequent recovery in the labor market. Using data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS), researchers with the Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy provide insight into key labor force statistics, employment across industries and occupations, and the effect of the ease of social distancing and the ability to telework on occupational employment change.
Black Workers with Disabilities in the Labor Force: Did You Know?
Disability is a natural part of the human experience, including within the Black community. This brief provides some facts to know about Black adults (age 16+) with disabilities within the US workforce.
Access to Paid Leave for Family and Medical Reasons Among Workers with Disabilities
Most workers, including those with disabilities, will experience personal, medical and family caregiving events that demand time away from work. Access to paid leave for family and medical reasons could be especially important for both workers with disabilities and workers who are caregivers to family members with disabilities. This brief estimates the share of the workforce that has access to paid leave for certain family and medical reasons and highlights differences in access based on disability status.
Spotlight on Women with Disabilities
The Office of Disability Employment Policy prepared this brief to examine the state of women with disabilities in the current labor market. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Population Survey, we examine disability prevalence, education levels, employment and related characteristics, poverty, health insurance coverage and the impact of COVID-19 on the employment of women with disabilities.