News release

From: The University of Melbourne

Disability employment gap in Australia remains unchanged for more than 20 years

People with disability are 30-40 per cent less likely to be employed, according to a long-term study tracking inequalities in the Australian employment market.

The study, published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, included more than 20,000 people over 21 years in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (HILDA).

The most significant inequalities were experienced by older working-age people with disability, people with intellectual or learning disability, brain injury or stroke, or psychological disability.

Lead author Lu Ye from the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health said that inequalities in unemployment – not working but actively looking for work – were sustained for people with disability across the 21 years of data.

"Our findings show people with disability were twice as likely to be unemployed compared to people without disability. This tells us that Australians with disability face significant barriers to employment, suggesting that current policies and programs have not effectively addressed barriers or improved opportunities to gain and maintain employment.

"We need to do more research to understand other aspects of disabled people's work. Future research should consider things like work hours, type of job, and income and explore how these aspects compare to those for non-disabled people."

Senior author Associate Professor Zoe Aitken said the study, which included data from 2003-2023, painted a stark picture.

"This study reveals large and persistent inequalities in employment for Australians with disability over the past two decades," Associate Professor Aitken said.

"This is important because we know that having a job is good for mental health and it’s even more beneficial for the mental health of disabled people."
According to the 2022 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, around 120,000 people with disability are not employed but are actively seeking work.