There’s a large and motivated but largely untapped labour pool looking to become more engaged in the workforce.
And for employers who are always complaining about the challenges of access to or retention of talent, this may be a silver bullet.
This cohort of workers is the pool of disabled people in the country. They are highly employable but their participation in the workforce lags behind the rest of the population. And a new report from TD Bank says this represents a $50 billion opportunity.
That’s the contribution to GDP they figure would result if all those in the disabled community looking for work were to find it. Part of their argument centres on overall workplace demographics.
The fact that the workforce is aging presents two points: first, aging workers are more likely to declare a disability themselves but — and more importantly — an aging talent pool will make tapping into the pool of people with disabilities (or PWD) more attractive.
After all, these people tend to overachieve to compensate for their disabilities – getting more education or being more likely to stay with an employer willing to give them a chance.
Source: https://economics.td.com/canadians-with-disabilities-accessibility
Originally published November 27, 2019.
