More Canadians with disabilities in the workforce, but unmet accommodation needs among barriers to equity

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month in Canada. As the data from the Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD) and other surveys and analysis show, workforce participation for Canadians with disabilities has increased.

However, there is still room to improve inclusivity in the economy, as more than one in four Canadians (27%) aged 15 years and older had one or more disabilities in 2022.

More than one-third of employed Canadians with disabilities had an unmet accommodation need in 2022

More than one-third of employed Canadians with disabilities needed a workplace accommodation (35.4%) or had an unmet need (35.4%) in 2022, according to findings from a recent study looking at the years 2017 and 2022 and using CSD data. These are average percentages which are based on all types of needs and unmet needs, and both were down from 2017.

Modified work hours was the top reported workplace accommodation need (16.3%) in 2022, followed by modified or different duties (11.6%), working from home (10.9%), modified or ergonomic workstation (10.7%) and a special chair or back support (10.3%). Other needs included communication aids, building accessibility, and specialized transportation. Workers with more severe disabilities were more likely to have an unmet need, as well as those with cognitive, physical, or mental health-related disabilities.

More Canadians with disabilities employed in 2023; gaps in wages and employment rates persist

In 2023, the number of Canadians with disabilities who were employed edged up (+1.6%) while their population rose by 1.5% compared with 2022, according to data from the Labour Force Survey. Employment rates for this group were highest in Alberta, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia.

However, the employment rate of core-aged men (aged 25 to 54) with a disability was 17.0 percentage points lower than core-aged men without disabilities (74.4% vs. 91.4%), alongside an 11.3 percentage-point gap between rates for core-aged women (72.5% for those with disabilities vs. 83.8% for those without disabilities).

The employment rate of men and women with severe disabilities was 40.1 percentage points less than the rate of those who did not have disabilities (26.8% vs. 66.9%).

The unemployment rate of persons with a disability (7.6%) was higher than their counterparts without a disability (4.6%), and the average hourly wage of employees with disabilities was lower ($31.95 vs. $33.86).

Disability was also associated with a lower employment rate among all racialized groups in 2023.

Businesses owned by persons with disabilities less likely to expect increased profitability; likelier to have better environmental policies, higher hybrid work rates

There were just over one million private-sector businesses in the third quarter of 2024, according to the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions. Of those, 2.2% were majority-owned by persons with disabilities.

Businesses owned by persons with disabilities were less likely than all businesses to expect an increase in the next three months in the number of employees (7.2% vs. 11.5%); in demand for goods and services (15.3% vs. 19.4%); and in profitability (6.6% vs. 11.5%).

Conversely, businesses owned by persons with disabilities were more likely than all businesses to have in place various environmental practices, such as reducing waste (63.4% vs. 47.8%), using recycled or waste materials as inputs (25.7% vs. 20.0%), or choosing suppliers based on their environmentally responsible practices or products (26.8% vs. 12.4%).

Businesses owned by persons with disabilities were also likelier than all businesses to have their workforce work remotely most hours (9.8% on average vs. 5.9%) or approximately the same number of hours on-site and remotely (9.1% on average vs. 6.1%). The gap was widest when it came to those working on-site exclusively (59.1% on average vs. 68.7%). However, only small proportions of each expected a fully remote workforce (4.9% on average vs. 7.5%).