Introduction

In the personal_house_map dataset, information regarding incomes, personal information, employment status, and disability types was addressed. The employment rate of disability is significant to address disabilities’ social and economic status. The problem we focus on is the disability unemployment rate in different areas in the US. Analyzing disabilities’ employment status is not only related to social justice but also contributes to the entire society with the diversity and perspectives disabilities could bring. Awareness towards equality in employment opportunities could be raised from the discussion of disabilities’ employment rate. Moreover, with the involvement of disabilities in industries, an increased labor force could benefit the economy with more taxes and economic consumption. Although many states have laws against inequality of disability employment, discrimination towards them in the job market still exists. (UNH, 2017) 1 Thus, the employment analysis of disability is significant for their rights as well as social benefits.

Unemployment Rate for People with Disabilities in the U.S.

To investigate the unemployment rate among people with disabilities in the U.S. across states, we integrated the information from the person_house dataset, ending up with unemployment data from 27 states. The map above shows that the distribution of unemployment rate in the U.S. does not seem to be based on geographic locations: states with high and low unemployment rates are located across the U.S., while states with mid unemployment rates are mainly on the east and west coasts. Moreover, most of the missing data comes from the mid areas, indicating the possible ignorance of middle states. By taking a closer look at the unemployment rate in each state, we found the lowest unemployment rate is only 2.9% (Arizona), while the highest is 30% in Maine. To better understand how different disabilities are discriminated against in the job market, we decided to focus on Maine in the following data analysis.

Unemployment Rate in Maine across Disability Types

The analysis, based on the last map, focuses on Maine, the state with the highest unemployment rate. To investigate the unemployment rate among people with disabilities, we mapped out the unemployment rate for disabilities in each County in Maine. Moreover, we provided additional information via pop-up messages indicating the unemployment rates for different types of disabilities in each county. Only four counties have recorded data, indicating an incomplete dataset that limits the depth of analysis. So, the conclusion made by this map is not comprehensive and needs further proof. As only two of the four counties have an unemployment rate, 25%(Androscoggin) and 67.7%(Kennebec) respectively, we could conclude that only 50% of the counties in Maine have disabilities unemployment number. Notably, ambulatory disabilities have a 50% rate, while cognitive and hearing disabilities reach 100% in Kennebec County. Again, since the dataset size is very small, no valid conclusion can be made from this map. A more extensive dataset is necessary to better understand the employment landscape for disabilities in Maine.

Summary

The dataset originally covered 41 states, but after filtering, it was reduced to 28 states. A closer examination of Maine highlighted the trend of missing data across disability types, emphasizing the dataset’s non-representativeness for people with disabilities in the U.S. This lack of inclusivity, as highlighted in the brochure “Producing Disability Inclusive Data” (UNICEF, 2020) 2, leads to inaccuracies and incompleteness, potentially yielding misleading results. While this dataset sheds light on the high unemployment rate among disabled individuals and raises public awareness, its limitations underscore the need for a more inclusive dataset to inform better policies.

Although we can not draw a definite conclusion given the limited data, the high unemployment rate in Maine across different disability types indicates the necessity of creating a more inclusive hiring procedure. For example, hiring managers should be required to record the reason for not selecting people with disabilities. Moreover, the company can implement an early consideration model, which asks hiring managers to review qualified candidates with various disabilities and accommodate them based on their specific situations. These will be greatly helpful in building a more inclusive working environment for people with disabilities. (EARN, 2018) 3

  1. UNH Data. Disability Statistics Annual Report: UNH, 2017. Retrieved from https://app.perusall.com/courses/sds192-01-introduction-to-data-science-807756242/mp3_data2017_unh_annualreport↩︎

  2. UNICEF Data. Producing Disability Inclusive Data: UNICEF, 2020. Retrieved from https://app.perusall.com/courses/sds192-01-introduction-to-data-science-807756242/producing-disability-inclusive-data-brochure-english-2020_accessible-pdf-768768163↩︎

  3. Federal Agency Employment Strategies: Framework for Disability Inclusion. (2018). https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/odep/pdf/faestrategies.pdf↩︎