Disability Employment Gap in Northern Ireland 2020

Date published: 07 October 2021

The paper examines the disability employment gap within Northern Ireland in 2020.

The Disability Employment Gap in NI 2020 publication was released at 9.30am today. The paper examines the disability employment gap in Northern Ireland (NI) in the context of the United Kingdom, as well as other characteristics as sourced from the Labour Force Survey, such as gender and age.

Key points

• In 2020 the employment rate for people with disabilities was 38.1%, the employment rate for people without disabilities was 80.3%. The disability employment rate gap was 42.2 percentage points (pps).
• The disability employment gap for males and females in 2020 were 49.2pps and 35.5pps respectively.
• The disability employment gap for NI in 2020 was 42.2pps, compared to 27.9pps for the whole of the UK. Since 2014, the disability employment gap has consistently been higher in Northern Ireland than the rest of the UK.
• The disability employment gap was lowest for those aged 16 to 24 (when compared with other age groups) in 2020, at 18.0pps. This is consistent with trends since 2014 and is due to lower employment rates for those aged 16 to 24 without disabilities.

The statistical bulletin and associated tables can be found on the Disability Employment Gap in NI 2020 page.