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BLACK ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES: A PORTRAIT
Frank Bowe
BLACK ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES: A PORTRAIT
Frank Bowe
PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Justin Dart, Chairman
Washington, DC 20036-3470
1990
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
List of Tables
i
List of Figures
ii
Thumbnail Sketches
iii
Executive Summary
1
Introduction
3
Race, Socioeconomic Status and Disability
5
Two Million Potential Recruits
8
The Size of the Population
9
Who are Black Adults with a Work Disability?
11
Characteristics of the Population
16
Age
16
Education
19
Marital Status
21
Labor Force Participation
22
Earnings
23
Income and Economic Status
25
Occupational Category
27
Technical Notes
27
About the Author
31
References
32
BLACKS
LIST OF TABLES
Table
Page
1. Distribution by Age: 16-64 Year-old Blacks with
16
Disabilities
2. Percent Disabled and Severely Disabled, by Age:
17
16-64 Black Adults
3. Distribution by Age: Disabled and Non-Disabled
18
Blacks Aged 16-64
4. Education Attainment by Disability Status: Black
19
Labor-force Participants Aged 25-64
5. Education Attainment by Sex: Black Disabled
21
Labor-force Participants Aged 25-64
6. Marital Status by Sex: Black Disabled Labor-force
22
Participants Aged 16-64
7. Labor Force Participation by Disability Status:
23
Blacks Aged 16-64
8. Mean Earnings Sex and Disability Status:
24
Black Workers Aged 16-64
BLACKS
9. Mean Earnings by Race, Sex and Disability Status:
25
Workers Aged 16-64
10. Income From All Sources in 1987: Black Disabled
26
Labor-force Participants Aged 16-64 Who Reported
Some Income
11. Occupational Category by Sex and Disability Status:
28
Black Workers Aged 16-64
Thumbnail Sketches
Black Adults 16-64 Years of Age
The "typical" black working-age adult with a disability:
is 47 years old;
is not married;
lives in a metropolitan area;
is not a high-school graduate;
is severely disabled;
does not work, either full- or part-time;
had or has a blue-collar job; and
had a mean income from all sources of under $9,000 in
1987.
The "typical" black working-age adult with no disability:
is 32 years old;
is not married;
lives in a metropolitan area;
is a high-school graduate;
works full-time;
has a blue-collar job; and
had a mean income from all sources of about $14,000 in
1987.
BLACKS, 1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
of the 13,420,000 Americans aged 16-64 who have disabilities,
some 2,512,000 are black and report a work-related disability.
That is 13.7%, or about one in every seven black "working-age"
Americans. Whites, by contrast, are disabled only at a 7.9% rate
in the 16-64 age range. That is, black adults are half again as
likely to be disabled as are whites. of all 16-64 adults with a
disability, one in every five (19%) is black.
A 1988 Census Bureau Current Population Survey (CPS) report
reveals much about working-age blacks with disabilities that will
help us as we implement the Americans with Disabilities Act.
of the 2,512,000 black working-age adults with disabilities, a
remarkable 71.8% were severely disabled. By comparison, the
proportion severely disabled among whites with disabilities was
52%, and that among disabled adults of Hispanic origin was 68%.
of "working-age" blacks with disabilities, just 21.8% work or
actively seek employment; that compares to 78.9% of non-disabled
blacks in the same age range. It is also just 64% of the 34%
labor-force participation rate of white adults with a disability.
Fully 26.4% of disabled blacks are unemployed, vs. 12.3% of
disabled whites and 5.8% of blacks with no disabilities.
Partly because only 16% of disabled black adults are employed,
BLACKS, 2
average income is very low. The mean income of those not in
families in 1987 was $6,197, or 41% as much as the $15,046 mean
for similar blacks with no disability. The mean for white adults
with disabilities not living in families, by comparison, was
$10,969, or 56% greater. Looking only at working-age blacks with
disabilities who worked, mean earnings in 1987 were $8,894, or
70% of the $12,689 mean for white adults with disabilities and
62% of the $14,244 mean for non-disabled black adults.
Only 178,000 black adults with disabilities, or 7%, worked
year-round, full-time (YRFT). They had mean earnings of $17,103,
vs. $21,777 for white disabled workers (22% more) and $19,350 for
non-disabled black workers (12% more).
Participation in the labor force (working or actively seeking
work) of black disabled adults was little-changed at 21.8% in
1988, from 22.4% in 1982. That compares to 34% for white
disabled adults in 1988. Stated differently, black adults with
disabilities were one-third less likely to participate than were
whites with disabilities. Among black disabled women, the rate
was 22.7% in 1988; among black disabled males, it was 20.5%.
These findings document the need for improved employment services
for black adults who have disabilities. In particular, they
demonstrate the need for vigorous implementation and enforcement
of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. They also
demonstrate the double whammy of race and disability.
BLACKS, 3
INTRODUCTION
In late 1989, as the "Americans with Disabilities Act" (ADA) was
being considered by the US Congress, the US Bureau of the Census
released a report entitled, Labor Force Status and Other
Characteristics of Persons with a Work Disability: 1981 to 1988. 1
The highlights of this publication were reported on the front
pages of many American newspapers, because the findings were both
dramatic -- demonstrating the depth of the difficulties adults
with disabilities were finding in the nation's economy -- and
timely, coming as they did while the Senate was preparing to pass
the ADA. The report contained in its 17 tables a great deal of
information about adults with disabilities that was not reported
in the mass media. And while the Census Bureau publication was
comprehensive, its style and format, featuring many "cross-tabs",
are forbidding for the general reader. In an effort to bring
these important data to employers, advocates, people with
disabilities, parents, rehabilitation counselors, special
educators, and others whose lives and work will be directly
affected by these findings, the President's Committee decided to
publish a series of four booklets outlining in a more accessible
form the critical facts reported by the Census Bureau. This
report is supplemented by three others -- on all adults with
disabilities, women with disabilities, and persons of Hispanic
origin who have disabilities.
These data were collected in March, 1988, in a supplement to that
BLACKS, 4
month's Current Population Survey (CPS). Each month, the Census
Bureau studies about 57,000 households. The CPS surveys yield
data which generally are highly reliable and valid. However,
the CPS does not sample from persons living in institutions, for
which reason the data in the Census Bureau's report, and in this
booklet, do not include institutionalized individuals with
disabilities. The information is also "self report": people are
asked questions and volunteer their answers. Some people with
disabilities chose not to admit to the disability. [Please see
Technical Notes, below, for a discussion on data sources.]
In the March supplements, an individual is said to have a work
disability if: (1) he or she reported having a health condition
or disability that limited the amount or kind of work he or she
could do; (2) he or she had retired or left a job for health
reasons; (3) he or she did not work the week prior to the survey
because of a disability or a long-term physical or mental illness
which prevents the performance of any kind of work; (4) he or she
did not work at all the previous year because ill or disabled;
(5) he or she received Medicare benefits but was under the age of
65; and/or (6) he or she received Supplemental Security Income
(SSI) benefits and was under the age of 65.
A person was said to have a "severe" work disability if the
answer to one or more of the final four questions (3-6 above) was
positive. This explains the meaning of the finding that 71.8% of
16-64 year-old blacks with disabilities are severely disabled.
BLACKS, 5
RACE, SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND DISABILITY
That 13.7% -- one in every seven -- blacks aged 16 to 64 has a
disability is an attention-getter. Why is the rate half again as
large (57% larger) compared to that for whites?
Socioeconomic status seems to explain more than does race itself.
Blacks tend to avoid costly medical care more than do whites. 2
In part, this is due to the fact that just 40% of black males
with jobs and only 38% of black women with jobs are covered by
employee-paid health plans, according to the new Census Bureau
report. It is also due to the generally lower incomes of blacks
as compared to whites. Delay in seeking and obtaining quality
health care can mean that illnesses or accidents ultimately lead
to disability rather than to recovery. Blacks are also more
likely to have certain illnesses that may lead to disability,
such as diabetes, which may produce blindness. For example, a
recent study³ in Baltimore found that blacks were twice as likely
as were whites to be blind or visually impaired. The Johns
Hopkins Medical Institution reported in the February 1990
Archives of Opthamology that its survey of 5,000 black and white
residents of Baltimore suggests that as many as 900,000 blacks in
the US are blind and some three million have vision impairments.
Another factor appears to be blacks' relatively higher incidence
of disease due to preventable health risks such as high blood
pressure, alcohol consumption and smoking. A new study⁴ by the
BLACKS, 6
Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta found that blacks aged
35-54 die at a rate more than double that of whites in the same
age group. The report, in the Journal of the American Medical
Association February 1990 issue, attributed 31% of the disparity
to failure among blacks to prevent diseases. Another 38% of the
difference was due to income and socioeconomic status, while 31%
was not explainable. The CDC was particularly concerned that
blacks tend not to take advantage of preventive health services
such as screening and health-education programs. And the fact
that half of black children live with one parent⁵ may help
explain delayed or foregone medical attention.
AIDS is another big factor. In New York and New Jersey, for
example, AIDS became for the first time in 1987 the leading cause
of death among black women aged 15 to 44. 4 The death rate for
black women in the CDC study was nine times that for white women.
The AIDS Related Complex (ARC) of symptoms includes disabling
conditions that may persist for years before death.
Surprisingly, work-related injury rates do not seem to explain
black-white disability rate differences. According to a study by
the National Center for Health Statistics⁷, white workers have
9.8 injuries per 100 workers per year, compared to just 9.2 for
blacks. It is possible that black workers were less likely to
report work-related injuries, but it is improbable that their
actual rate of injuries was significantly higher than whites'.
BLACKS, 7
However, blacks are more likely than are whites to hold blue-
collar heavy-labor jobs. The recent Census Bureau study, for
example, illustrates this point. In 1988, 34% of black males
with no disabilities had Operator/Fabricator/Laborer jobs, as
against just 19.8% of white males. Within that category, the
proportion employed as Handlers, Equipment Cleaners or Laborers
was 12.1% for blacks but 5.8% for whites. Such jobs often lead
to accidents, which in turn lead to disabilities. Thus, although
the rate of accidents among black workers may not be higher than
that among whites, there are proportionately more black blue-
collar workers, thus relatively more who become disabled.
In turn, this labor-market pattern reflects comparative under-
education among blacks as compared to whites. Looking only at
black adults who are in the labor force, we see that just 15% of
25-64 year-olds are college graduates vs. 26% of whites. Among
those with a disability, the rates are, respectively, 6% and 17%.
By contrast, 23% of all 25-64 year-old blacks lack a high-school
diploma, VS. 14% of whites; among those with disabilities, the
rates are, respectively, 36% for blacks and 25% for whites.
These figures illustrate the levels of education that frequently
limit blacks to heavy labor jobs which, in turn, sometimes lead
to disabilities.
BLACKS, 8
TWO MILLION POTENTIAL RECRUITS
Black working-age (16-64) adults with a work disability comprise
13.7% of the 18,299,000 black adults in this age range. That is
one in every seven; by contrast, just one in every 12 white
adults of working age is disabled. These 2,512,000 black adults
are an important group to public and private policy makers for
many reasons, of which their number is only one.
These persons are over-represented in many segments of concern to
government and industry today. In America today, 5,637,000
blacks aged 16-64 do not participate in the labor market (work or
actively seek work). Most are voluntary non-participants:
mothers of young children, full-time students, early-retired
individuals, etc. One in three (35%), however, is a person with
a work disability -- most of whom do in fact want to work. 8
Looking at it differently, blacks represent 21% of all disabled
non-participants in the nation's labor force. An employer
seeking to bring non-labor-force participants into the job market
needs to consider blacks with disabilities.
Disabled blacks constitute 19% of all persons of working age who
have disabilities, yet they are just 8.6% of all disabled YRFT
workers. At a time when the labor market needs more YRFT
workers, black adults with a disability include more than two
million potential recruits who are not now working YRFT.
BLACKS, 9
THE SIZE OF THE POPULATION
The Bureau of the Census, US Department of Commerce, announced in
19891 that 3,064,000 black adults, or 15.5% of the 19,775,000
blacks over the age of 15 but under the age of 75, were disabled.
Among whites, the proportion was just 9.7%. The data were
collected in March of 1988.
Working Age (16-64)
In America today, employment is most common among persons who are
over the age of 15 but under the age of 65, and among those not
living in institutions. This group is referred to by
demographers as the "working-age" population. It is the cohort
most of interest to Congressional, Executive Branch, State
government, and private-sector policy makers, although they also
show concern about employment patterns by younger and older
Americans and about employment among persons residing in
institutions. The recent Census Bureau publication reveals that
2,512,000 non-institutionalized blacks in the 16-64 age range
report a work disability, or about one in every seven (13.7%).
The "Young old" (65-74)
More and more, this group is continuing to work. 9 Most of those
who do, however, leave active labor-force participation before
attaining age 75. For this reason, work-disability status among
persons aged 65-74 is of interest. A total of 552,000 blacks in
BLACKS, 10
this age range report a disability. That is 37%, or more than
one in every three, of the 1,476,000 blacks in the 65-74 age
cohort. Among whites, by contrast, just 25% of the young-old
have disabilities.
Other Groups
Although not discussed in the recent Census Bureau data, we know
that many Americans under the age of 16 and over the age of 74,
and many living in institutions, also have disabilities. In
1989, the US Department of Education 10 reported that 4,269,000
children and youth under the age of 17 received educational and
related services due to disability during the 1987-1988 school
year. USDE did not, however, report data by race. The 1980
Census
11 showed that 49% of non-institutionalized persons aged 75
and over, including about 400,000 blacks, said they had a
disability. And the 1980 Census and the 1986 Inventory of
Long-Term Care Places 12 suggested that about 200,000 disabled
blacks of all ages reside in institutions. These figures from
other sources bring the total of American blacks of all ages
reported to have disabilities to more than four million. Because
most of the sources rely upon individual self-reports -- and
because disability is for many people something they regard as
stigmatizing and thus something they might not be willing to
volunteer -- it seems quite reasonable that the number of black
Americans with disabilities may well be as high as 6,500,000.
That would be about 20% of the nation's black population, or one
in every five. It is, however reasonable, still an estimate.
BLACKS, 11
WHO ARE BLACK ADULTS WITH A WORK DISABILITY?
Profile
The "typical" black adult with a work disability as of March 1988
is a non-high-school graduate about 47 years old whose disability
is so severe that he or she believes that work, at least
full-time work, is not possible. The individual is more likely
to be female (54.5%) than male (45.5%), largely because women
outnumber men among blacks in the working-age range. A former
blue-collar worker, in a factory or service occupation, she did
not work last year. She is not married, lives in a metropolitan
area, and had a mean income from all sources in 1987 of under
$9,000 a year.
Not Working
The 1986 "ICD Survey of Disabled Americans" stated: "Not working
is perhaps the truest definition of what it means to be
disabled. 18 The 1988 CPS shows that this remains true: Only
21.8% of work-disabled blacks participate in the labor force
(work or actively seek employment), compared to 78.9% of non-
disabled blacks. In fact, of the 5,637,000 black 16-64 year-olds
not in the labor force, those with work disabilities comprised
35%, or more than one-third. A total of 77.8% did not work at
all in 1987 (vs. 22.6% of non-disabled blacks aged 16-64).
BLACKS, 12
Poverty
Poverty is rampant among disabled black adults. Looking only. at
those in the labor force -- the best-off of all 16-64 year-old
black adults -- we see that fully 41% live on below-poverty
incomes. That is particularly striking when one considers that
the term "income" includes not only salary and wages but also
Social Security payments, public assistance or welfare, and
retirement income such as pensions. The median income of all
working-age blacks with a work disability who participated in the
labor force was $6,865 in 1987; the mean was $9,940. Among
whites, the figures were $12,299 and $16,425, respectively.
Sex
More than half (54.5%) are female. This is due largely to the
fact that among all 16-64 year-old black adults, 54.2% are women.
Black males, tragically, have a markedly lower life expectancy
than do either white males or black females. 2,4 Males are 47.6%
of all 16-24 year-old blacks, 45.9% of 25-34 year-old blacks,
45.0% of 35-44 year-old blacks, 44.3% of 45-54 year-old blacks,
and 44.2% of 55-64 year-old blacks.
Severe Disability
A remarkable 71.8% of all 16-64 year-old blacks with work
disabilities are severely disabled. of the 2,512,000 blacks
having a work disability, 1,803,000 are severely disabled and
709,000 (28.2%) are not. Using the same criteria, we can now go
back to the 1981 CPS survey and find there that the proportion
BLACKS, 13
severely disabled was a similar 69.2%. Throughout the 1980s,
then, almost seven in every ten working-age blacks with
disabilities have been severely disabled. Severe disability was
defined above, following Bowe (1986) 13, as someone classified as
disabled because they did not work due to disability the week
they were contacted by the Census Bureau, did not work the
preceding year due to disability, or received Medicare and/or SSI
despite being under age 65.
In fact, 9.9% -- one in ten -- of all 16-64 year-old blacks have
severe disabilities, more than double the white rate of 4.1%.
Examining it differently, of all severely disabled working-age
adults, 24%, or one-quarter, are black. The rate of severe
disability among working-age persons of Hispanic origin was 5.6%;
Hispanics constituted 10% of all severely disabled persons of
working age. Whites, by contrast, were just 73.1% of all
severely disabled persons in the 16-64 age range, vs. 78.6% of
all 16-64 year olds with a disability.
Education
The education of labor-force participants concerns American
business.
14
Although black adults participating in the labor
force are generally less well-educated than are whites, disabled
blacks are even worse off. One in nine (11.6%) of black 25-64
year-olds never completed eighth grade, a rate triple that of
non-disabled black adults. By contrast, just 5.8% are college
graduates, as against 15.6% of non-disabled blacks.
BLACKS, 14
Labor-force Participation
Blacks with a work disability participate in the nation's labor
force (work or actively seek work) at a 21.8% rate, far below the
78.9% rate among blacks with no work disability. Another way of
saying this is that 78.2% of work-disabled blacks neither work
nor actively seek employment. That is more than three in every
four. Among males, the labor-force participation rate is 20.6%;
that compares to an 83.1% rate among non-disabled males. Among
females, the rates are 22.7% and 70.9%, respectively.
Unemployment Rates
Fully 27.4% of black women and 25.0% of black men with a
disability were unemployed as of March 1988. Those rates are
double the 14.2% rate among all 16-64 year-old disabled adults.
The comparable rates among non-disabled black men and women were,
respectively, 13.9% and 11.9%, in March 1988. Thus, the
unemployment rates for work-disabled blacks are about double
those as well. The unemployment rate is a proportion. The
numerator is comprised of the number of individuals without jobs
who actively seek employment; the denominator has all individuals
in the labor force, employed or seeking employment. There is no
place in the formula for individuals who are not in the labor
force. Thus, the rate is a reflection of how difficult persons
actively seeking work are finding it to secure employment.
Many observers of the disabled population mistake the out-of-the-
labor-force figure (here, 78.2%) for the unemployment rate (here,
BLACKS, 15
26.4% for black men and women combined). The two should never be
confused. of the two, the out-of-the-labor-force figure is more
revealing, and more important. It tells us the proportion not at
work, which is what we are concerned about. We want to reduce
that figure as best we can.
Occupational Category
That so many work-disabled blacks report less than a high-school
education suggests that many who work have blue-collar jobs.
of those now employed, 78.7% of the men and 70.7% of the women
are private wage and salary workers; 16.5% of the males and 23.1%
of the females have government jobs; and 4.6% of the men and 6.1%
of the women are self-employed. Blacks with a work disability
who work are more likely than are non-disabled persons to have
laborer and machine-operative jobs, much more likely to have
service jobs, and less likely to have managerial or technical
jobs than are whites with disabilities or non-disabled blacks.
Insurance
A high 46% of black women and 39% of black men with a disability
who have jobs are covered neither by a pension plan nor by a
health plan. Both proportions are higher than the 34% rates for
for black women and men with no work disabilities, but are
comparable to the rates for white and Hispanic adults.
BLACKS, 16
Age
A plurality (32.7%) is in the oldest age range, 55-64. The
middle three sections -- those having persons aged, respectively,
25-34, 35-44, and 45-54 -- are similar in size. The smallest age
group for blacks with disabilities is the youngest: there are
just 291,000 16-24 year-old blacks (11.6% of the 16-64 total).
The age distribution as of March 1988 follows:
Table 1
Distribution by Age: 16-64 Year-old Blacks with Disabilities
Age Range
Number
Percent Percent of Blacks That Age
All
2,512,000
100.00%
13.7%
16-24
291,000
11.6
6.1
25-34
464,000
18.5
8.8
35-44
433,000
17.2
11.7
45-54
502,000
20.0
20.1
55-64
822,000
32.7
39.6
The working-age population of blacks with a work disability is
actually, on average, younger today than it has been at any time
since we began gathering Census data in 1970. The average 16-64
work-disabled black is about 47 now, vs. 50 a few years ago.
This is a reflection of the fact that the "baby boom" generation
is now in the 26-43 age range.
BLACKS, 17
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POPULATION
What do the new Census Bureau data tell us about American blacks
with work disabilities?
Age
The Census Bureau consistently has reported that the prevalence
of disability rises with age. In the newest CPS survey, the
proportions were as follows:
Table 2
Percent Disabled and Severely Disabled, by Age:
16-64 Black Adults
Age Range
Percent Disabled
Percent Severely Disabled
All
13.7%
9.9%
16-24
6.1
4.0
25-34
8.8
6.1
35-44
11.7
8.0
45-54
20.1
14.3
55-64
39.6
30.6
Clearly, disability usually is something that happens as blacks
become older; it is a normal part of the aging process for many
Americans. Notice, too, that among blacks in every age range,
more than half of those with a work disability are severely
BLACKS, 18
disabled. The Census Bureau's new report also shows that fully
37.4% of all noninstitutionalized blacks aged 65 to 74 have
disabilities, but it does not report the number with severe
disability for this age cohort.
There is another way to look at age and disability, and that is
to ask what proportion of all working-age blacks with work
disabilities is in each age range.
Table 3
Distribution by Age: Disabled and Non-Disabled Blacks
Aged 16-64
Age Range
Disabled
Non-Disabled
All
100.0%
100.0%
16-24
11.6
28.3
25-34
18.5
30.4
35-44
17.2
20.7
45-54
20.0
12.7
55-64
32.7
7.9
This table highlights the fact that the population of working-age
blacks with disabilities is older, on average, than is the
working-age population as a whole. While the average working-age
American is about 32 years of age, the average adult with a work
disability is about 47.
BLACKS, 19
That is something we do not find in many other parts of the
world. In the Less Developed Countries of the Third World, for
example, the average age of people with disabilities is 15. 15
There, disability is a problem of childhood and youth both
because illnesses largely eradicated from First World nations
remain prevalent and because average life expectancy is much
lower than in First World nations.
Education
The relationship between disability and education is dramatic.
Blacks with disabilities are much less well-educated than are
same-aged blacks who have no disabilities. To illustrate, Table
4 offers data on 25-64 labor-force participants who are black.
Table 4
Education Attainment by Disability Status: Black
Labor-force Participants Aged 25-64
Years Completed
Disabled
Non-Disabled
All
100.0%
100.0%
Fewer Than 8
11.6
4.0
8
3.9
2.7
9-11
20.6
15.2
12
44.1
43.0
13-15
14.0
19.5
16+
5.8
15.6
BLACKS, 20
&
These data show that, among those working or seeking work, blacks
with disabilities were three times as likely as were non-disabled
blacks never to have completed eighth grade. Those with no
disabilities were almost three times more likely to be college
graduates than were blacks with work disabilities.
While the Census Bureau data do not tell us something we need to
understand these data fully -- the age at onset of the disability
-- we can be reasonably confident that the correlation between
disability and education is bi-directional. That is, blacks who
become disabled later in life, after completing their education,
frequently are those persons whose highest level of education
attainment was less than a high-school diploma. These are people
whose vocational options often are limited to blue-collar jobs,
which in turn expose them to risk of accidents. But it is also
true that people disabled early in life complete fewer years of
schooling than do people with no disabilities.
Among black adults aged 25-64, males were better-educated than
were females. These data are illustrated in Table 5, below.
BLACKS, 21
Table 5
Education Attainment by Sex: Black Disabled
Labor-force Participants Aged 25-64
Years Completed
Male
Female
All
100.0%
100.0%
Fewer Than 8
12.2
11.2
8
1.5
5.8
9-11
13.7
26.3
12
52.2
37.8
13-15
12.7
14.3
16+
7.3
4.6
Marital Status
Among those participating in the labor force, blacks with
disabilities are less likely to be married, more likely to be
divorced, widowed or separated than are disabled whites.
Non-disabled blacks are somewhat more likely to be married (42.1%
vs. 32.8%) and less likely to be divorced (10.8% vs. 17.6%) than
are disabled blacks. Strikingly, black men and women with
disabilities who work or actively seek work differ greatly in
proportion widowed (2.9% of the men but 11.3% of the women),
which seems to reflect the high mortality rates of black males.
BLACKS, 22
Table 6
Marital Status by Sex: Black Disabled
Labor-force Participants Aged 16-64
Status
Males
Females
All
100.0%
100.0%
Married
38.6
29.0
Divorced
16.9
18.0
Widowed
2.2
11.3
Separated
2.9
10.3
Never Married
39.4
31.4
Labor Force Participation
Three in every four working-age blacks with a work disability do
not participate in the labor force -- work or actively seek work.
That 78.2% of 16-64 year-old blacks with work disabilities
neither work nor actively seek employment is one of the most
dramatic, and discouraging, findings of the new Census Bureau
study. Another way of describing these findings is to say that
while 55.7% of non-disabled 16-64 year-old blacks have full-time
jobs, fewer than one in ten with disabilities does.
BLACKS, 23
Table 7
Labor Force Participation by Disability Status:
Blacks Aged 16-64
Status
Disabled
Non-Disabled
All
100.0%
100.0%
In the Labor Force
21.8
76.5
Working
16.0
66.6
Full-time
9.4
55.7
Part-time
6.6
10.9
Out of Labor Force
78.2
23.5
Earnings
of the 556,000 working-age blacks with disabilities who had jobs
at any time during 1987, the mean earnings were $8,894. That was
38% less than the $14,244 mean for non-disabled black workers in
the same age range. About one-third (32%) of all disabled black
workers held year-round, full-time [YRFT] jobs. Among those
178,000 disabled blacks, mean earnings were $17,103. That was a
much-better 88% of the $19,350 mean for non-disabled YRFT black
workers. By comparison, disabled white workers averaged $12,689
and, if YRFT, $21,777. We may thus estimate that the "penalty"
for race -- the difference in earnings between white and black
disabled workers -- is about 30%; that is, earnings of black
disabled workers is 70% of the white average. The "penalty" for
BLACKS, 24
disability among blacks is a higher 38%. of course, differences
in education and other characteristics also help account for
these differences in earnings.
Black males with disabilities averaged $11,876 [73% of the
$16,195 mean for non-disabled black men], but $20,790 [97% of
non-disabled black men] if they worked YRFT. Black women with
disabilities made $6,432, and if YRFT, $12,620. Women without
disabilities averaged 48% more overall at $12,367, but the
difference dropped to 27% when YRFT earnings are compared.
Table 8
Mean Earnings by Sex and Disability Status:
Black Workers Aged 16-64
Mean
YRFT Mean
Both Sexes
Disabled
$ 8,894
$17,103
Nondisabled
14,244
19,350
Male
Disabled
11,876
20,790
Nondisabled
16,195
21,361
Female
Disabled
6,432
12,620
Nondisabled
12,367
17,191
BLACKS, 25
Table 9
Mean Earnings by Race, Sex and Disability Status:
Workers Aged 16-64
Black
White
Both Sexes
Disabled
$ 8,894
$12,689
Nondisabled
14,244
19,482
Male
Disabled
11,876
15,869
Nondisabled
16,195
24,943
Female
Disabled
6,432
8,340
Nondisabled
12,367
13,027
Income and Economic Status
The mean family income from all sources in 1987 for black
families having at least one member who was disabled was $16,985,
or 59% of the $29,019 mean for black families with no disabled
member. The mean income for black disabled persons not in
families was $6,197 in 1987, or 42% of the non-disabled mean of
$15,046. The figures for white disabled persons were $29,464
(for families, or 42% higher) and $10,969 (for individuals not
BLACKS, 26
living in families, or 44% higher than the average for blacks).
Among black adults with disabilities who participate in the labor
force, average incomes from all sources were $9,940 (mean) and
$6,865 (median). These figures compare to $16,425 (mean) and
$12,299 (median) for disabled whites. The distribution for
disabled black adults in the labor force is given in Table 10.
Table 10
Income From All Sources in 1987: Black Disabled Labor-
Force Participants Aged 16-64 Who Reported Some Income
Income in 1987
Percent
Cumulative Percent
$1 to $1,999 (or loss)
16.1%
16.1%
$2,000 to $3,999
14.6
30.7
$4,000 to $5,999
16.0
46.7
$6,000 to $7,999
7.0
53.7
$8,000 to $9,999
10.9
64.6
$10,000 to $14,999
12.8
77.4
$15,000 to $24,999
11.5
88.9
$25,000 or over
11.1
100.0
Clearly, poverty is a major problem in this population. Even in
the relatively well-off group of labor-force participants, more
than half of blacks with disabilities had incomes in 1987 of
under $8,000.
BLACKS, 27
Occupational Category
of 402,000 working-age blacks with disabilities who had jobs in
1987, service jobs were most common. Almost half (47.7%) of
black disabled women had service jobs, as did 31.8% of black
disabled men. Both groups were much less likely than were blacks
with no disabilities to hold managerial or professional jobs.
These differences in occupational category appear partially
responsible for the fact that disabled blacks have the lowest
reported rates of all groups for pension and health plan
coverage: 60.9% of the men and 54.1% of the women lack both a
health and a pension plan from their employers.
BLACKS, 28
Table 11
Occupational Category by Sex and Disability Status:
Black Workers Aged 16-64
Males
Females
Disabled Not Disabled Disabled Not Disabled
Occupation Group
Managerial/
Professional
10.7%
13.7%
7.5%
18.4%
Technical/Sales/
7.7
16.6
28.3
38.9
Clerical
Service
31.8
18.1
47.7
26.7
Farm/Forestry/
7.7
2.2
0.8
0.2
Fishing
Percision/Craft/
10.5
15.1
0.5
2.3
Production/Repair
Operator/
31.3
34.0
14.9
13.3
Fabricator/Repair
BLACKS, 33
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Frank G. Bowe, Ph.D., LL.D., is Professor, Counseling, Research,
Special Education and Rehabiliation [CRSR] Department, Hofstra
University, Hempstead, New York 11550. He is a member of the
President's Committee and served with PCEPD Chairman Dart on the
US House of Representatives Task Force on the Rights and
Empowerment of People with Disabilities, which steered the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 through the Congress.
Dr. Bowe is a frequent consultant to the the US Senate, the US
House of Representatives, US Bureau of the Census, and the US
Department of Education, as well as to many Fortune 500 firms.
He is author of more than 30 books on demographics, economics,
labor-force dynamics and social policy on disability and age.
BLACKS, 34
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