Some employers have lamented difficulty finding staff to fill positions in a highly competitive job market. While there are a number of solutions available to help recruit staff an important demographic is being overlooked.
A recent report released by Statistics Canada reveals people with disabilities have largely been kept out of the workforce. The employment rate of people with disabilities – ranging from mild to severe – was less than half at 49 per cent in 2011, compared to 79 per cent for Canadians without a disability. There is a definite need for improvement.
Across Canada, that represents approximately a million potential workers who are unemployed, according to Statistics Canada.
Here in St. Albert and across the region, businesses have been accommodating in terms of helping people with disabilities enter the workforce.
Transitions – which works to help people with disabilities attain equality in standard of life – has matched the people it supports with jobs or volunteer positions at 49 businesses in St. Albert and the surrounding area. All employees earn at least minimum wage.
Additionally the Lo-Se-Ca Foundation – another organization supporting those with disabilities – has had success finding its clients jobs and where it has been unable to match people with employment, it created its own.
Of those with disabilities eligible for employment in St. Albert, 77 per cent of people at Transitions are employed, while more than 90 per cent of those at Lo-Se-Ca Foundation are. Those numbers add 85 people to the regional workforce.
Both organizations are providing a much needed and valuable service by bringing skilled labour to the workforce and promoting an underutilized labour pool.
Improving employment opportunities is not just good for the worker, it is good for our economy. Eligible workers who are unable to find work cost taxpayers money. They are also less likely to put money back into the economy through the consumption of goods and services. Each year the Canadian economy loses billions of dollars to social payments and loss in taxes to unemployment.
Businesses have a lot to gain by choosing to hire from this pool of workers. In 2011, 48 per cent of people with a mild or moderate disability reported having a university degree, trade certificate or college diploma. Of those with a severe or very severe disability, 42 per cent had the same level of education. With that in mind, there is a large and skilled workforce out there waiting to be tapped.
More effort should be put into supporting and employing people with disabilities who are ready and able to work. The end result will be more money spent at local businesses, more money into government coffers and less spent on social support programs.
No one loses when more Canadians have jobs.
