Employing People with Disabilities is Good for Business
America is facing an impending workforce crisis as the Baby Boomer generation ages and retires. By 2030, roughly 20 percent of the US population will be aged 65 and older, and America will need millions of new workers to take the place of retirees in the workforce.* One of the primary goals of the National Organization on Disability (NOD) is to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities—a large and diverse potential workforce which is employed at dramatically lower rates than the general population.
Businesses across the United States have begun to realize that employing people with disabilities makes good business sense, especially when you consider that:
- Employees with disabilities can help ease concerns about labor supply and provide additional resources to help satisfy workforce planning strategies
- People with disabilities have equal or higher job performance ratings**
- The disability market, which includes customers with disabilities and their markets, represents $1 trillion in disposable income***
Some of today’s leading employers are seeing the benefits of hiring people with disabilities. For example, a Walgreen’s distribution center in Anderson, SC, that employs 50 percent people with disabilities, is 20 percent more effective than any other in the country.
We invite you to join our corporate CEO Council, designed to help decision makers explore and address disability employment and workplace diversity, disability-related marketing, and emergency planning for employees with disabilities. Explore resources for business leaders, then join our growing list of prominent companies who are already CEO Council members:
Find more information for business leaders
- CEO Council
- Employment Best Practices
- Marketing to the Disability Community
- Assistive Technology in the Workplace
- Disability and Emergency Preparedness in the Workplace
*Source: CDC State of Aging and Health in America 2007 Report
**Source: Harris Poll - 19 out of 20 managers give employees with disabilities a "good" or "excellent" rating on their job performance
***Source: U. S. Bureau of the Census
