According to the most recent graduate employment data, the employment gap between graduates with disabilities and those without disabilities was 3.4 percentage points for recent bachelor’s degree recipients. For all graduates, the gap is nearly 10 percentage points higher.
At first glance, this suggests that the employment gap for people with disabilities is narrowing over time, with recent graduates being less affected than earlier graduates. This is good news, isn’t it?
It may not be that simple. Comparing recently released employment outcomes for graduates with disabilities with workforce data for graduates with disabilities nationwide raises important questions about the gap and how we can improve the long-term career experiences and outcomes for graduates with disabilities.
Gaps and Pipelines
This morning, AGCAS’s latest ‘What happens next?’ report was released in collaboration with the Shaw Trust’s ‘Graduate Disability Employment Gap’ research. AGCAS research finds that 15 months after graduation for the 2020-21 class, the disability employment gap was 3.4% for undergraduate degrees, 4.5% for postgraduate liberal arts degrees and 2.2% for postgraduate research degrees.
Total employment is the sum of graduates in all forms of employment: full-time, part-time, volunteering, employed, further study etc. Total disability employment gap is the difference between the calculation for graduates with a disability and the calculation for graduates with no known disability.
Data from the Department for Work and Pensions shows that looking at all graduates in 2023, graduates without a disability are around 12.7 percentage points more likely to be in employment than graduates with a disability, although this figure has been gradually falling in recent years.
It is certainly encouraging that the disability employment gap for graduates has been steadily decreasing. But the question remains: why does the disability employment gap for new graduates persist? The graph below shows that this gap has changed very little in recent years. And why is the employment gap that graduates with disabilities experience once they enter the workforce larger than the gap they initially experience as new graduates?
Graduate totals data source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/the-employment-of-disabled-people-2023 (Table LMS006)
One possible explanation is the “leaky pipeline” phenomenon of continued participation and advancement in the workforce, which has been discussed in several groups, including diversity in academic leadership. Although the employment gap for people with disabilities immediately after bachelor’s degree is 3.4 percent and the employment gap for people with disabilities overall is an average of 12.7 percent for graduates, this does not necessarily imply a linear progression from graduates of past decades to more recent generations.
This may mean that disabled graduates who leave university may face fewer initial barriers to employment, but then their disabilities and challenges may worsen over time, causing them to leave the workplace.This proposal is not intended to downplay the significant challenges faced by recent graduates with disabilities.
It is completely unacceptable that there should be a continuing employment gap for graduates with disabilities at any point in their careers.
The leaky pipeline metaphor has been criticised for implying an inappropriate level of passivity. We agree, and use it carefully here. The pipeline is clogged rather than leaking, and this is damaging to our society. The barriers that disabled graduates, and the wider disabled population, experience in finding, securing and keeping a good job are significant, diverse and complex. Disabled people are often actively excluded from employment, either directly or indirectly, as the overall disability employment gap shows.
Complex issues
Our recent research has looked at the collective experiences of disabled graduates and found that some groups within this population experience even greater disadvantage. As What Happens Next? shows, recent graduates with autism have the lowest rates of full-time employment. They also often have higher rates of part-time employment and unemployment, and lower levels of job security and highly skilled work. Today’s publication of the Buckland Review shows how timely this research is.
It is also important to remember that our new research project focuses solely on access to work. Disabled people continue to experience inequality when they do get to work, with the disability pay gap currently standing at 13.8 percent. There is still a long way to go in this regard.
Another complex issue that impacts our ability to clearly assess what is going on in this data concerns disclosure. Many graduates with disabilities decide whether or not to disclose their disability to their employer. Choosing not to disclose limits their chances of receiving reasonable accommodations in the workplace but may facilitate easier access to employment.
A video interview by the Shaw Trust with disability advocate and 2023 Disability Power 100 recipient Dr Shani Dhanda highlights her personal experience with disclosure, noting that removing a disclosure from her application led to an interview that she wouldn’t have had when she was more open with potential employers.
Decisions about disability disclosure may vary throughout education, but are still complex. Many students make “conscious and strategic choices” about when and how to disclose their disability, which may lead to them not being recorded in official statistics and therefore not receiving support. This means that there may be multiple hidden populations of people with disabilities in graduate outcomes data, including students who choose not to disclose their disability, graduates who become disabled or are identified as disabled after completing their studies (which may not be accurately recorded in graduate outcomes data, as they are based on student records), and graduates who are employed but cautious about disclosing their disability.
Graduates with disabilities also need to be confident that telling potential employers they have a disability will not affect their ability to secure a role. This can be supported by employer education and certification. As a disability employment leader, Shaw Trust helps employers develop the knowledge and practice they need to become disability employment certified.
Meanwhile, a recent AGCAS survey found that more than 90% of career services continue to support graduates for more than two years, and more than a third provide lifelong support.Career professionals on campus frequently support students and alumni with discussions about disclosure and reasonable accommodations, both during their time at the university and after they graduate.
What happens next?
Collectively, these new reports share important data and lived experiences of graduates with disabilities, but they also raise questions.
AGCAS and Shaw Trust want to critically reflect on the continuing existence of a disability employment gap and encourage higher education institutions and employers to work together to increase knowledge and understanding of the experiences of disabled graduates and create meaningful change and impact.