The employment quality of persons with disabilities: Findings from a national survey
“Having any job is not the same as having a good quality job” (p. 791).
Comparing employment quality for workers with and without disabilities
Through a cross-sectional survey of 2,794 workers in Canada and use of multidimensional measures of employment quality, Shahidi et al. found that workers with disabilities are twice as likely to be in low-quality employment compared to workers without disabilities. Further, they are two and a half times more likely to have precarious employment. Workers with disabilities, for example, report higher rates of temporary, part-time and gig employment; job and income insecurity; and wage theft — all components of health-harming precarious employment. Disparities are larger for workers with both physical and mental/cognitive disabilities.
The authors discuss the importance of distinguishing between employment status (i.e., simply having a job) and employment quality (i.e., having a good quality job) both when researching the labour market inclusion of persons with disabilities and when tailoring policy and program interventions to meaningfully address gaps.
Addressing structural barriers for workers with disabilities
The authors situate these disparities in the context of documented structural barriers for persons with disabilities in the labour market. They recommend a combination of interventions at the societal/policy level (e.g., employment standards legislation) and organizational/workplace level (e.g., inclusive practices) to address the disproportionate levels of precarious employment experienced by workers with disabilities.
This focus on promoting good quality jobs for all workers — decent work — is important for health and health equity outcomes.
Use this resource to
- Understand how health-harming precarious employment conditions disproportionately impact workers with disabilities in Canada
- Guide public health action on decent work as a social determinant of health for all workers, including workers with disabilities
Alignment with NCCDH work
Employment and working conditions are interrelated social determinants of health. Precarious employment conditions are rising across Canada, contribute to avoidable health harms, and disproportionately impact workers who experience systemic oppression — including ableism.
Understanding and responding to these inequities and advancing decent work for all workers is an important avenue for public health action. There are a range of roles and actions that the public health field can take to contribute to decent work.
Access NCCDH resources about decent work as a social determinant of health:
- Determining Health: Decent work practice brief (2024)
- Determining Health: Decent work issue brief (2022)
- Webinar: How can public health promote decent work as a social determinant of health? (2024)
- Webinar: An introduction to decent work as a social determinant of health (2024)
Precarious employment is a driver of poverty, another significant social determinant of health. Learn about initiatives led by persons with disabilities to eliminate disability poverty in Canada in the NCCDH podcast episode “Disrupting for disability without poverty” (Mind the Disruption, Season 2, Episode 3), which features the Disability Without Poverty movement.
See other resources related to decent work and health equity.
Reference
Shahidi, F. V., Jetha, A., Kristman, V., Smith, P. M., & Gignac, M. A. (2023). The employment quality of persons with disabilities: Findings from a national survey. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 33(4), 785–795. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-023-10113-7
Tags: Disability, Working conditions, Academic Institution, Document, Journal Article