Wisconsin Residents With Disabilities Could Help Address the State's Labor Shortage

Friday, April 28th, 2023 -- 9:03 AM

(By Joe Schulz, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsinites with disabilities could help address the state's labor shortage, but despite pushes to boost hiring, most employers' recruitment efforts have ignored potential employees who have disabilities.

A recent survey points out a mismatch between what employers say they value and what they practice when it comes to hiring individuals with disabilities.

Most Wisconsin employers say hiring people with disabilities "enriches the diversity climate of the organization and that their workplace is positive and supportive of employing persons with disabilities," according to a 2022 report from the Wisconsin State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management and St. Norbert College.

But only 21.3 percent of individuals with a disability in the United States were employed last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the state report found that most employers are ignoring potential employees with a disability in their recruitment efforts.

Over 60 percent said they have done nothing to identify national resources to support recruiting people with disabilities, nor have they revised marketing and messaging for those recruitment efforts, according to the report.

The state's March unemployment numbers, released last week, showed the state continues to experience record-low unemployment at 2.5 percent. But the labor shortage continues. Wisconsinites with disabilities could help address the issue, but they face obstacles in participating in the labor force.

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