The June 2026 National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE) report reveals a large increase in job seeking among people with disabilities, signaling that more individuals are entering the labor force as economic pressure intensifies. This finding aligns with last month’s nTIDE forecast that rising prices would push more people with disabilities to seek employment, while progress in employment access continues.
Issued monthly by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability, nTIDE tracks how broader economic conditions affect employment trends for people with and without disabilities.
Based on data from today’s BLS Jobs Report and separate nTIDE analysis, the employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities (ages 16-64) decreased slightly from 37.9 percent in April 2026 to 37.8 percent in May 2026 (down 0.3 percent or 0.1 percentage points). For people without disabilities (ages 16-64), the employment-to-population ratio increased from 74.9 percent in April 2026 to 75.0 percent in May 2026 (up 0.1 percent or 0.1 percentage points). The employment-to-population ratio, a key indicator, is the percentage of people who are working relative to the total population (the number of people working divided by the total population, then multiplied by 100).
In contrast, the labor force participation rate for people with disabilities increased from 41.1 percent in April 2026 to 42.0 percent in May 2026 (up 2.2 percent or 0.9 percentage points). For people without disabilities, the labor force participation rate increased from 77.9 percent in April 2026 to 78.0 percent in May 2026 (up 0.1 percent or 0.1 percentage points). The labor force participation rate reflects the percentage of people who are in the labor force (working, on temporary layoff, on furlough, or actively looking for work in the last four weeks) relative to the total population (the number of people in the labor force divided by the number of people in the total population multiplied by 100).
“The labor force participation rate increased substantially while the employment-to-population ratio decreased slightly for people with disabilities. Taken together, these data suggest that more people with disabilities are entering the labor force and actively looking for work,” said Andrew Houtenville, PhD, professor of economics and director of the UNH-IOD. “This pattern is consistent with what we expect during inflationary periods, when people seek work to help offset rising prices and cover basic needs for themselves and their families. According to the most recent Annual Report on People with Disabilities in America, people with disabilities are more than twice as likely to live in families with incomes below the poverty line, making higher costs even more perilous for these households.”
Compared with the same time last year, the employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities decreased from 38.0 percent in May 2025 to 37.8 percent in May 2026 (down 0.5 percent or 0.2 percentage points). For people without disabilities, the employment-to-population ratio increased from 74.8 percent in May 2025 to 75.0 percent in May 2026 (up 0.3 percent or 0.2 percentage points).
The labor force participation rate for people with disabilities (ages 16-64) increased from 41.4 percent in May 2025 to 42.0 percent in May 2026 (up 1.4 percent or 0.6 percentage points). For people without disabilities (ages 16-64), the labor force participation rate also increased from 77.8 percent in May 2025 to 78.0 percent in May 2026 (up 0.3 percent or 0.2 percentage points).
In May, among workers ages 16-64, the 6,484,000 workers with disabilities represented 4.3 percent of the total 151,316,000 workers in the U.S.
