COVID-19 and Employment Losses for Workers with Disabilities: An Intersectional Approach

Abstract

This paper studies the disparate effects of COVID-19 on workers with physical and mental disabilities, paying particular attention to an intersectional analysis by disability, race/ethnicity, and gender. Results indicate that White and Black women with disabilities experienced relatively greater employment losses during the pandemic compared to White men without disabilities. Our decomposition procedures reveal that the disability employment gap increased during the pandemic, and a substantial portion of the increased gap is explained by differential effects of the pandemic across occupations. The unexplained component of the disability gap also rose, which could partly reflect growing discrimination against people with disabilities.