tailieunhanh - Unfinished Business: Making Employment of People with Disabilities a National Priority

Francesca Cornaglia is a Lecturer in Economics & Finance at Queen Mary University of London and a Research Associate at the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), London School of Economics. Elena Crivellaro is a PhD candidate in economics at the University of Padua. Sandra McNally is a Research Fellow and Director of the Education & Skills Programme at the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Deputy Director of the Centre for the Economics of Education. | United States Senate COMMITTEE ON HEALTH EDUCATION LABOR PENSIONS Tom Harkin Chairman Unfinished Business Making Employment of People with Disabilities a National Priority July 2012 Contents An Open Letter from the 1 Competitive Integrated Employment is the 5 The State of Employment for People with 6 Increasing Employer 13 Building the 19 The Need for Alignment of Federal Spending with the Goals of the 26 A Time for 31 Disability Hearings in the . Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions During the 112th 33 35 AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN As the country continues to struggle with persistently high unemployment rates and a shrinking middle class there has been renewed attention in the last several months to the issue of economic growth and the need for job creation. Many have noted the widespread problem of long-term unemployment and a growing number of Americans who have given up looking for work. Against this backdrop the . Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions HELP Committee has held a series of bipartisan hearings in this Congress to explore an often-overlooked piece of the jobs crisis the persistently low labor force participation of people with disabilities. This report describes the dismal disability employment situation points to some recent developments that create an historic opportunity to bring more workers with disabilities into the labor force and calls on the leadership in Congress and the Administration in the business community and in society at large to elevate this issue to a national priority. Specifically I call for public and private sector employers to set goals for boosting disability employment greater opportunities for entrepreneurs with disabilities improved services to young people with disabilities that can lead to better employment outcomes after graduation and bipartisan .