Fact sheet: Employing People with Disabilities

Did you know?

• As of 2015, more than 685,000 British Columbians live with physical, mental or developmental disability—close to 15% of the B.C.’s population of 4.6 million.^[i]
• There are approximately 334,000 people in B.C., aged 15 to 64 who self-identify as having a disability.
• In British Columbia people with a disability are employed at a rate of 48.4% compared to 70.2% for those without disability.^[ii]
• With close to one million job openings expected in the province by 2022, people with disabilities represent an important employee talent pool.
• 33% of individuals aged 25 to 34 with a severe or very severe disability said they had been refused a job in the past five years because of their condition.^[iii]
• More than two-thirds of working people with disabilities work only part-time and/or part-year.^[iv]
• Between 70% to 90% of people identified as having a mental illness are not working. ^[v]
• People with developmental and psychiatric disabilities have trouble accessing any employment at all. ^[vi]

^[i] Government of Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, Canadians in Context - People with Disabilities (Ottawa, ON: September 1, 2015) http://mieux-etre.edsc.gc.ca/misme-iowb/indicator.jsp?&indicatorid=40 .

^[ii] Statistics Canada, Canadian Survey on Disability.

^[iii] Statistics Canada, “Study: Persons with disabilities and employment”, The Daily Statistics Canada, Catalogue 11-001-X (December 3, 2014) http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/141203/dq141203-eng.pdf

^[iv] Cohen et al., Removing Barriers.

^[v] Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling, “Career Services Guide: Supporting People Affected by Mental Health Issues” (May 26, 2015) http://ceric.ca/resource/career-services-guide-supporting-people-affected-by-mental-health-issues/.

^[vi] Cohen et al., Removing Barriers.