Notice of release
Montréal, September 28, 2021. – In 2017, in Québec, more than one million people aged 15 and over, or about 16% of the population, had a disability. Half of them were 55 years of age or older. The Institut de la statistique du Québec is releasing today an analysis that compares the labour market situation of people with disabilities to those without disabilities.
Study highlights
- The employment rate for people aged 15–64 with a disability was 55%, compared to 75% for those without a disability.
- The gap in employment rates between people with and without disabilities was much smaller for those with a university diploma: in 2016, among those aged 25–64, the employment rate for people with disabilities was 79% compared to 85% for those without disabilities.
- Employed persons with mild to moderate disabilities had a relatively similar profile to those with no disabilities. In contrast, a large proportion of those with severe or very severe disabilities had an employment income of less than $30,000.
- People with more severe disabilities were more likely to have unmet needs for workplace accommodations. The two most common types of accommodations offered to people with work limitations were flexible hours and modified duties.
- Finally, people with severe or very severe disabilities more frequently reported experiencing discrimination in the workplace. About 40% of men and women with a disability of this severity reported experiencing some form of discrimination in the five years prior to the survey.
This analysis was conducted based on data from the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD).
Person with a disability: Person whose everyday activities are limited because of a chronic disease or health problem.