The unemployment rate for persons with a disability fell to 10.7 percent last year, but that rate is twice as high as unemployment for the entire workforce.
“We have so many people with disabilities in Wisconsin who want to work, who can’t find work,” said Lisa Pugh, public policy director for Disability Rights Wisconsin. “A lot of folks have really given up.”
Several federal agencies are working with states to boost employment of those between the ages of 14 and 24 who have disabilities. Wisconsin is one of six sites participating in the demonstration project known as the PROMISE initiative.
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Wisconsin also has a worker training program called Project Search, which allows students with disabilities to gain experience and skills that will help them gain employment after high school. The program has been expanded across the state, Pugh said.
“And those programs have significant success rates in terms of youth exiting and actually ending up with a permanent job,” she said.
No state program recruits and educates employers to hire persons with disabilities, but Gov. Scott Walker has encouraged companies to do so by promoting the campaign Better Bottom Line.
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