New York State Disability Status Report

Authors:

Sarah von Schrader

William A. Erickson

Lars Vilhuber

Thomas P. Golden

Employment and Disability Institute

The following Status Report is intended to provide information on disability in New York State, focusing on the working-age population (16-64 years old, except where noted).[1] The report presents: 1) estimates of disability prevalence overall and among various groups; 2) indications of where disparities exist in employment rate, educational attainment, and financial status between people with and without disabilities; and 3) characteristics of New York State which may influence employment outcomes for people with disabilities.

Disability prevalence

The working-age population of New York State is 12,664,000. Of this group, 1,402,000 report having one or more disabilities. That is, 11.1% of people in New York State report having a disability.[2]

The prevalence of disability in New York State is slightly lower than the national average of 12.3%. Map 1 presents the disability prevalence rate (the percentage of people reporting a disability) in each New York County. The prevalence of disability across New York State counties ranges from a low of 7.2% in Westchester County to a high of 19.0% in Schoharie County.

In New York State, 11.2% of women report a disability, as compared with 10.9% of men. Disability prevalence varies across racial and ethnic groups: 10.8% of White, non-Hispanics report at least one disability, compared with 11.5% of racial/ethnic minorities. Looking across race categories, 10.8% of Whites report at least one disability compared with 23.0% of American Indians/Native Alaskans, 13.3% of African Americans/Blacks, and 5.6% of Asians. [See Table 1 with additional details on disability prevalence by demographic characteristics.]

The most commonly reported disabilities are physical disabilities and employment disabilities (6.5%), while 2.2% percent report a sensory disability, 4.2% report a mental disability, 1.9% report a self-care disability, and 3.0% report a go-outside-home disability. In New York State, 6.4% of people have two or more of the six types of disability that could be specified. [See Table 2 with additional details on disability prevalence by disability type.]

Map 1: New York Disability Prevalence Rates by County

This is a map of New York State, with Counties color-coded by the prevalence of disability. You can see that much of New York City and southeast New York has the lowest prevalence, while there is a band of high prevalence running up the middle of the state from the southern border up to the far north.

End Map 1.

Comparing the Status of People with and without Disabilities on Key Indicators

Employment rate: In New York State, the employment rate for people with disabilities is 33.1%, compared with 72.3% for people without disabilities, a gap of 39.3%.

The corresponding national employment rates are 36.7% and 74.6%, respectively, resulting in a national gap of 37.9%. In New York State, the employment rate for people with disabilities varies widely across counties, ranging from a low of 26.0% in Bronx County to a high of 46.2% in Columbia County.

The employment rate also varies a great deal by disability type. In New York State, the employment rate is highest for people with a sensory disability (43.2%) and lowest for people with self-care disability (14.7%). [See Table 2 with additional details on employment rate by disability type.]In general, the employment rates for women and African Americans/Blacks are significantly lower than for men and Whites, respectively. In New York State, this holds as well: the employment rate for women with disabilities is 31.2% compared with 35.0% for men with disabilities. The employment rate for African Americans/Blacks with a disability is 26.4% compared with 35.5% for Whites with a disability. [See Table 3 with additional details on employment rates.]

Figure 1: Employment rates

This chart has two bars comparing the employment rates of people with and without disabilities.

The employment rate of People with disabilities is 33 percent.

The employment rate of people without disabilities is 72 percent.

End Figure 1.

It is also of interest to look more closely at characteristics of people who are not working. In New York State, 8.2% percent of people with disabilities who are not working are actively looking for work, an estimated 67,300 people. Figure 2 shows the distribution of work history for people with and without disabilities who are not working. [See Table 4 with additional details on people who are not working.]

Figure 2: Work history of people who are not working

This stacked bar chart compares the work histories of people who are not working, by disability status.

Of people with disabilities who are not working:

13 percent were employed in the last 12 months

26 percent were employed between 1 and 5 years ago

60 percent were employed more than 5 years ago or were never employed

Of people without disabilities who are not working:

33 percent were employed in the last 12 months

25 percent were employed between 1 and 5 years ago

42 percent were employed more than 5 years ago, or were never employed.

End Figure 2.

Educational Attainment: Among working-age (21-64) people with a disability, 26% are not high school graduates, compared with 11% of people without a disability.

Employment and earnings are both related to educational attainment; that is, people with higher educational attainment are more likely to be employed, earn more, and escape poverty. Therefore, it is important to be aware of differences in educational attainment that might affect employment rates. As can be seen in Figure 3, among people with disabilities, 60% have only a high school diploma or less, compared with 38% of people without disabilities. Only 16% of people with disabilities have a some college or higher compared with 36% of people without disabilities. [See Table 5 for additional details on educational attainment.]

Figure 3: Educational Attainment

This stacked bar chart compares the educational attainment of people with and without disabilities.

For people without a disability:

11 percent have less than high school

27 percent are high school graduates

26 percent have some college or an associates degree

36 percent have a bachelors degree or higher

For people with disabilities:

26 percent have less than high school

34 percent are high school graduates

25 percent have some college or an associates degree

16 percent have a bachelors degree or higher.

End figure 3.

Figure 4 presents employment rates by educational attainment. As educational attainment increases, the employment rate increases, but the disparity between people with and without disabilities persists. In New York State among people with less than a high school degree, 22% of people with disabilities are employed compared with 64% without a disability. For those who have a bachelor’s degree or higher the employment rates are 50% and 84%, respectively. [See Table 6 for additional details on employment rate by educational attainment.]

Figure 4: Employment rates by educational attainment

This chart compares the employment rates of people with and without disabilities, by educational attainment.

Of people with less than a high school education:

22 percent of people with disabilities are employed

64 percent of people without disabilities are employed

Of high school graduates:

34 percent of people with disabilities are employed

75 percent of people without disabilities are employed

Of people wtih some college or an associates degree:

40 percent of people with disabilities are employed

78 percent of people without disabilities are employed

Of people with a Bachelor's degree or higher:

50 percent of people with disabilities are employed

84 percent of people without disabilities are employed.

End Figure 4.

Financial Status: 28.4% of people with disabilities have an income that falls below the federal poverty level; this is almost 2.5 times the poverty rate for people without a disability.[3]

Poverty status is determined as a function of household income, family size, and age composition. This calculation does not take into account additional expenses that may be associated with disability, such as accessible housing or assistive technology.[4] As suggested by the poverty rates presented in Figure 5, the median annual household income for households that include a person with a disability is lower ($38,800), than for households that have no people with disabilities ($66,100).

Figure 5: Poverty Rates

This bar chart compares the poverty rates of people with and without disabilities.

People with disabilities have a poverty rate of 28 percent.

People with no disabilities have a poverty rate of 11 percent.

End Figure 5.

The poverty rate varies across different types of disability. In New York State, the highest poverty rate is among people with a mental disability (35.7%) and the lowest poverty rate is among people with a sensory disability (25.5%). [See Table 2 for additional details on poverty status by type of disability.]

Only 20.5% of persons with disabilities are working full-time/full-year (35 hours/week for 50 weeks or more a year) as compared with 55.9% of those without disabilities. When looking at the median earnings of only full-time/full-year workers, differences persist between people with and without disabilities. In New York State, the median income for people with disabilities is $34,500 compared with $41,800 for people without disabilities. As shown in Figure 6 median income increases with educational attainment, but the disparities between people with and without disabilities remain. In New York State among people with a high school diploma or less, median earnings are $28,100 for people with disabilities compared with $30,500 for people without a disability. For those with a bachelor’s degree or higher, median earnings are $42,100 and $50,800, respectively. [See Tables 5 and 6 for additional details on financial status and educational attainment.]

Figure 6: Median income for full-time/full year workers (in thousands of dollars).

this bar chart compares the median income of people with and without disabilities, broken down by educational attainment.

Of workers with a high school diploma or less:

The median income of people with disabilities is 28,100

The median income of people without disabilities is 30,500.

Of workers with some college or higher:

The median income of people with disabilities is 42,100

The median income of people without disabilities is 50,800.

End Figure 6.

Personal relationships: In New York State, 41.8% of people with disabilities are married compared with 54.9% of people without disabilities.

Marital status is recommended for monitoring by the National Council on Disability, as it is considered a key economic indicator.[5] The relationship between marital status and financial status is illustrated by observing that in New York State people who are not married are more than 2.5 times more likely to be living below the poverty line than their married counterparts. A person who is married or in a committed relationship may have emotional and other informal supports that are not available from government programs. They may share responsibilities for things such housework and rent with their partner. [See Table 5 for additional details on marital status.]

Other Factors that May Influence Employment Outcomes for People with Disabilities in New York State

Receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) can be a major work disincentive for people with disabilities. When considering returning to work, they may face loss not only of cash benefits but also health insurance through Medicaid or Medicare. In New York State 20.1% of persons with disabilities receive SSI.

Health insurance coverage has been linked to the quality of care individuals receive.[6] In New York State, 18.2% of people do not have health insurance, which is slightly lower that the national average of 20.2. The Medicaid Buy-in Working Persons with a Disability (MBI-WPD) Program is an important health insurance program option for people with disabilities. In New York State, an estimated 472,700 people are potentially eligible for this program which is limited to persons age 16-64 with a disability who are US citizens, are not SSI beneficiaries, and live in households at 250% or less of the poverty level.

Lack of access to health care services may make life more difficult for people with disabilities, particularly those with chronic health conditions. New York State has an average of 424 physicians per 100,000 people. With regards to hospital capacity,, New York State has 333 hospital beds per 100,000 people.

Among people with disabilities, lack of transportation is often noted as a barrier to employment.[7] Access to public transportation may reduce that barrier. In New York State, 26.3% or people take public transportation to work. The average travel time to work in New York State is 31.2 minutes. [See Table 7 for additional details on state level factors.]

Appendix

Table 1. New York State: Demographic Characteristics and Disability Prevalence Rates

Demographic Characteristics	Population Estimate	Margin of Error	Disability Prevalence	Margin of Error
Overall	12,664,063	5,169	11.1	0.08
Sex: Male	6,168,351	6,468	10.9	0.12
Sex: Female	6,495,712	6,765	11.2	0.11
Age: 16-34	4,931,766	9,386	6.3	0.12
Age: 35-64	7,732,297	12,194	14.1	0.11
Race/Ethnicity: White alone	8,397,863	12,224	10.8	0.08
Race/Ethnicity: African American/Black alone	1,918,774	5,829	13.3	0.28
Race/Ethnicity: American Indian/Native Alaskan alone	45,234	1,794	23.0	1.58
Race/Ethnicity: Asian alone	940,985	3,646	5.6	0.23
Race/Ethnicity: Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander alone	4,475	787	12.1	5.12
Race/Ethnicity: Other race alone	1,181,507	12,890	12.2	0.31
Race/Ethnicity: Two or more races	175,225	5,244	16.9	0.76
Race/Ethnicity: Hispanic or Latino	2,067,570	2,517	12.3	0.27
Minority Status : White, not Hispanic	7,607,878	4,562	10.8	0.09
Minority Status : Minority	5,056,185	6,894	11.5	0.24

Data Source: Estimates are for the civilian, non-institutionalized working-age population (16-64 years old) and were calculated using American Community Survey three-year estimates downloaded from the American Fact Finder (http://factfinder.census.gov/). The 2005-2007 ACS three-year estimates are based on data collected between January 2005 and December 2007.

Table 2. New York State: Disability Prevalence, Employment Rates, and Poverty Rates by Type of Disability

Type of Disability	Prevalence	Margin of Error	Employment Rate	Margin of Error	Poverty Rate	Margin of Error
Sensory	2.2	0.04	43.2	0.94	25.5	0.76
Physical	6.5	0.06	28.9	0.46	28.9	0.52
Mental	4.2	0.05	25.3	0.62	35.7	0.54
Self-Care	1.9	0.04	14.7	0.67	35.1	0.95
Go-Outside-Home	3.0	0.05	15.2	0.59	35.5	0.65
Employment	6.5	0.07	15.6	0.38	33.5	0.45

Table 3. New York State: Employment rates for people with and without disabilities by various demographic and educational characteristics

Characteristics	People with Disabilities		People without Disabilities
Characteristics	Employment Rate	Margin of Error	Employment Rate	Margin of Error
Overall	33.1	0.38	72.3	0.13
Sex: Male	35.0	0.53	77.6	0.17
Sex: Female	31.2	0.52	67.3	0.18
Age: 16-34	35.5	0.86	62.7	0.22
Age: 35-64	32.4	0.41	79.0	0.15
Race/Ethnicity: White alone	35.5	0.55	75.0	0.16
Race/Ethnicity: African American/Black alone	26.4	0.98	67.3	0.43
Race/Ethnicity: American Indian/Native Alaskan alone	28.2	4.98	69.0	2.57
Race/Ethnicity: Asian alone	37.8	1.73	67.1	0.52
Race/Ethnicity: Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander alone	31.1	20.06	62.7	11.04
Race/Ethnicity: Other race alone	28.3	1.44	66.9	0.43
Race/Ethnicity: Two or more races	31.8	2.52	66.6	0.90
Race/Ethnicity: Hispanic or Latino	28.2	1.09	67.9	0.35
Minority: Non-minority (White, not Hispanic)	36.3	0.63	75.5	0.16
Minority: Minority	28.5	1.32	67.5	0.41

Table 4. New York State: People who are not working

	People with a Disability,		People without a Disability
	%	Margin of Error	%	Margin of Error
Job search status: Actively looking for work	8.2	0.40	19.8	0.35
Job search status: Not looking for work	91.8	0.40	80.2	0.35
Work History: Employed in last 12 months	13.5	0.49	32.8	0.42
Work History: Employed in the last 1-5 years	26.3	0.64	24.7	0.38
Work History: Employed more than 5 years ago or never employed	60.2	0.71	42.5	0.44

Data Source: Estimates are for the civilian, non-institutionalized working-age population (16-64 years old) and were calculated using American Community Survey three-year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files. This file is a sample of the actual responses to the American Community Survey.

Table 5. New York State: Educational attainment, financial status, and personal relationships by Disability Status

	People with a Disability		People without a Disability
	% or median	Margin of Error	% or median	Margin of Error
Education: Less than HS	25.6	0.55	11.0	0.14
Education: High school graduate	34.1	0.59	26.9	0.20
Education: Some college or Associate degree	24.8	0.54	26.4	0.20
Education: Bachelors or higher	15.6	0.45	35.8	0.21
Poverty status: below federal poverty line	28.4	0.35	10.6	0.11
Employed, full-time/full-year	20.5	0.44	55.9	0.19
Median annual earnings for full-time/full-year workers	$34,500	$260	$41,800	$920
Marital Status: Married	54.9	0.54	41.8	0.19

Data Source: Estimates are for the civilian, non-institutionalized working-age population (21-64 years old). With the exception of poverty status, these estimates were calculated using American Community Survey three-year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files. This file is a sample of the actual responses to the American Community Survey. Poverty status estimates are for the civilian, non-institutionalized working-age population (16-64 years old) were calculated using American Community Survey three-year estimates downloaded from the American Fact Finder (http://factfinder.census.gov/). The 2005-2007 ACS three-year estimates are based on data collected between January 2005 and December 2007.

Table 6. New York State: Employment rates and Earnings for people with and without disabilities by educational attainment

	People with a Disability		People without a Disability
	% or median	Margin of Error	% or median	Margin of Error
Employed: Less than HS	22.4	1.03	63.9	0.65
Employed: High school graduate	33.6	1.01	75.2	0.37
Employed: Some college or Associate degree	40.2	1.23	78.5	0.36
Employed: Bachelors or higher	49.8	1.59	83.7	0.28
Employed, full-time/full-year: High school graduate or less	16.4	0.60	52.0	0.36
Employed, full-time/full-year: Some college or higher	26.6	0.87	58.3	0.28
Median income, employed full-time/full-year: High school graduate or less	$28,100	$980	$30,500	$270
Median income, employed full-time/full-year: Some college or higher	$42,100	$1510	$50,800	$360

Data Source: Estimates are for the civilian, non-institutionalized working-age population (21-64 years old) were calculated using American Community Survey three-year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files. This file is a sample of the actual responses to the American Community Survey.

Table 7. New York State Characteristics that May Influence Employment Outcomes for People with Disabilities

Characteristic	New York State	Margin of Error
% of people with disabilities receiving SSI benefits	20.1	0.53
% of people without health insurance[8]	18.2	0.6
Physicians/100,000 people	424	n/a
Hospitals/100,000 people	333	n/a
Mean travel time to work (in minutes)	31.2	0.11
% who take public transportation	26.3	0.16

Data Source:

The percent of people with disabilities receiving SSI was calculated for the civilian, non-institutionalized working-age population (21-64 years old) using American Community Survey three-year (2005-2007) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files.

The estimates of percent of people without health insurance are from: www.census.gov/did/www/sahie. These estimates are referred to as "Small Area Health Insurance Estimates" (SAHIE) and are based on models combining data from a variety of sources, including the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey, Census 2000, the Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program, the County Business Patterns data set and administrative records, such as aggregated federal tax returns and Medicaid participation records." These estimates represent health insurance coverage status for people age 18 to 64 in 2006.

Physicians/100,000 people and Hospitals/100,000 people downloaded from Table B8-1 in The US Census Bureau 2007 City and County Data Book (www.census.gov/statab/ccdb/ccdbstcounty.html).

Travel time to work and Percent of workers who take public transportation were calculated using American Community Survey three-year (2005-2007) estimates downloaded from the American Fact Finder (factfinder.census.gov). The estimates of Travel time to work and Percent who take public transportation are based on workers 16 years and older.