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Nearly 56.7 million people across the United States have a disability. Like any members of society, people with disabilities desire to be economically stable and fully included in all aspects of social life. Yet, a significant percentage of people with disabilities have difficulties finding, securing, and retaining employment. More than a quarter of all working-age people with disabilities are currently experiencing poverty.
Work Matters: A Framework for States on Workforce Development for People with Disabilities offers state legislators 13 broad policy options, as well as real-life examples of innovative programs and policies, that states have successfully implemented to build strong, inclusive workforces. Work Matters is a culmination of intensive deliberation and research conducted by the National Task Force on Workforce Development for People with Disabilities. The Task Force was convened by the Council of State Governments (CSG) and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) as part of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy’s (ODEP) State Exchange on Employment and Disability (SEED). Work Matters represents a commitment from the National Task Force to develop bi-partisan and state-driven policy options that are actionable and have broad appeal to a wide number of stakeholders. Each policy option contains a number of sub-options, suggested strategies and state examples that offer state policymakers an exceptional degree of customizability in considering disabilities employment policies.
The policy curriculum provides additional details on each section of the Work Matters report.