W. Roy Grizzard, Ed. D.
Assistant Secretary
U. S. Department of Labor
EU-US Seminar 2003
"Access of People with Disabilities to Employment"
Brussels, Belgium
November 17, 2003
Thank you for the privilege and opportunity to deliver these opening remarks. On behalf of the United States delegation, we are pleased to be in Brussels with our European Union (EU) colleagues. Thank you for the kind invitation to be present with you. And, we are pleased to help in celebrating the EU's "Year of Disability, 2003."
I commend the EU's Directorate General for Employment and Social Affairs, its leadership and staff, as well as the Directorate for Horizontal and International Issues, for making visible the critical issue of increasing the employment rate of people with disabilities.
I also commend the leadership of my colleagues in the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), and especially those in the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), for their part in overseeing the collaborative planning process with the EU, through its Working Group on Employment and Labor Related Issues.
We look forward to learning from all of you as the seminar unfolds. Together we hear about effective practices that can lead to the most effective policies to increase the employment rate of people with disabilities. ODEP's mission, as one agency within the U. S. Department of Labor, is to identify and apply promising employment practices to public policy.
We are in full agreement with the EU that opportunities to share knowledge and best practices can result in improved policies and implementation.
The U. S. Department of Labor is charged with preparing the American workforce for new and better jobs, and ensuring the adequacy of America's workplaces. The Department is responsible for the administration and enforcement of over 180 federal statutes. DOL programs, services and benefits are intended for all employers and workers across the nation, including individuals with disabilities.
In the words of the U. S. Secretary of Labor, Elaine L. Chao, "America works best when all Americans work."
In the U.S., one in five Americans (nearly 50 million people) have at least one disability. For those of working age, 49 percent of the women and 40 percent of the men are unemployed.
Just two weeks after taking office, President George W. Bush made a commitment to "tearing down the remaining barriers to equality that face Americans with disabilities" by putting forth a comprehensive set of proposals, collectively known as the New Freedom Initiative (NFI). A key goal of the NFI is "increasing the ability of Americans with disabilities to integrate into the workforce."
On both sides of the Atlantic, we will face a jobs and skills gap in five to seven years. Workforce trends in America indicate that total employment opportunities will increase from 146 million in the year 2000 to 168 million by 2010. That increase will not be evenly distributed across the labor market sectors. The gap in America between supply and demand will be catalyzed by the anticipated retirement of "baby boomers."
New opportunities for employment are opening as scientific and technological advances give rise to new industries and occupations unheard of only a few decades ago. At the same time, many traditional job opportunities are disappearing as industrial operations become increasingly automated and the nation's economy as a whole becomes increasingly globalized.
Our collective challenge is to match employer demand in the various labor market sectors with skilled supply. Working age people with disabilities can help greatly to fill the gap.
We in America believe that the individual worker with a disability should be afforded the right to choose what type of work to do, have technical assistance to perform essential functions of a job, and have the chance to advance and progress in work of choice. As such, individual worker needs must be embedded in policies and comprehensively addressed in practical implementations.
The United States has comprehensive employment policies related to people with disabilities in the areas of access to communication and the built environment, civil rights, housing, transportation, workforce development and work incentives.
The NFI promotes federal interagency coordination to solve the complex social policy issues that impact employment for people with disabilities. The NFI recognizes that many aspects influence the ability of people with disabilities to seek and keep meaningful employment. These issues are broad-based, and involve many government entities.
For instance:
- The Department of Transportation needs to ensure that people with disabilities have a way to get to work.
- The Department of Education needs to ensure that people with disabilities have the requisite education and effective processes to transition from school to work.
- The Department of Health and Human Services needs to ensure that people with disabilities have access to health care.
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development needs to ensure that people with disabilities have access to affordable and accessible housing.
- And the Social Security Administration needs to ensure that social security programs provide the flexibility and incentive for people with disabilities to leave the public assistance roles and participate in the workplace.
Under the strong leadership of Secretary Chao, the Department of Labor, through the Office of Disability Employment Policy, has been given a significant share of the responsibility for fulfilling the promise of the President's New Freedom Initiative.
Established less than three years ago, ODEP has committed more than $60 million to fund various experimental programs to eliminate employment barriers. ODEP's mission is to provide leadership to increase employment opportunities for youth and adults with disabilities.
We are a research and development agency focused on disability employment. We recommend policy. Because we do not regulate, investigate or adjudicate, we are able to work amicably with partners on both the supply side and demand side of disability employment.
ODEP assesses and recommends policies that take into account both stakeholders and environmental factors, such as the economy and legal and regulatory issues.
Our policy development activities address five key elements in the employment process:
- Pre-recruitment - This involves an understanding of workforce needs and ensuring that people with disabilities are prepared to meet those needs.
- Transition and Recruitment -This includes processes to ensure that individuals with disabilities are work-ready and employers have knowledge of where to find these work-ready individuals
- Active Employment - This includes developing partnerships/relationships that lead to real jobs for qualified individuals with disabilities.
- Career Development - This includes encouraging employers to put in place employment policies and practices that ensure both retention of the employee and promotion opportunities.
- Post Employment - This includes reintegrating people who have acquired a disability into the workforce, as well as planning for retirement.
We know that linking with employers is key to achieving our mission. We want employers not only to recruit and hire people with disabilities, but we want to see those individuals retained in long-term work opportunities and promoted on the basis of merit.
ODEP funds, therefore, are focused on finding ways to better link employer demand with skilled labor supply.
For example, ODEP funds a service called the Job Accommodation Network, or JAN.
- JAN provides free one-to-one, confidential telephone and Internet technical assistance to employers, employees or job candidates.
- JAN provides information about job accommodations, and the employability of people with disabilities.
JAN can be accessed on the web at www.jan.wvu.edu.
ODEP also funds a service called the Employer Assistance Referral Network (or EARN).
- EARN, too is a free service, available via telephone or Internet.
- EARN connects employers to employment service providers who have direct access to qualified job candidates with disabilities.
To learn more about EARN, visit their website at www.earnworks.com.
ODEP has established the Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP) which places college students with disabilities into summer and permanent jobs in both the public and private sectors. This is a source of skilled labor for the federal government. ODEP itself has several employees from the WRP.
The President and the Secretary of Labor recognize and reward those organizations, businesses and individuals who establish the most effective policies and practices that increase the employment of people with disabilities. In October Secretary Chao saluted 10 winners of the New Freedom Initiative Award - including a company represented at this meeting - IBM.
IBM was one of five corporations recognized, in addition to four non-profit organizations and an individual. Each of the winners has established programs that utilize assistive technology and effective personnel practices resulting in significant employment for people with disabilities.
I cannot emphasize strongly enough the importance of technology for creating an accessible work environment. A barrier-free environment must include such things as ramps for building access, appropriate door widths, and paths of travel free of impediments. Of equal concern is access to communication.
The person who is blind or visually impaired, for example, must be able to read the computer screen and documents. The person who is deaf or hard of hearing must be able to participate in the discussion at a meeting or in a telephone conversation.
ODEP's strategies include identifying physical, communication and programmatic effective practices and sharing these widely with employers, service providers, government agencies and others.
ODEP promotes policies that expand access to quality training, education, employment support services and entrepreneurial development.
Our multi-year projects are focused to move policy to practice by meeting employers' needs, transitioning youth from school to work, and researching work options, such as customized employment and telework.
ODEP's work includes refining methods of supplying skilled labor to the workplace.
ODEP also seeks partnerships with other agencies and organizations to carry out its work. Allow me to cite several on-going collaborative efforts.
- One promising approach finds the Department of Labor collaborating with the Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services. We established a position named a "navigator" in the One Stop Career Centers to help people with disabilities to find their way through the maze of state and local services essential to living independently in the community.
- Another significant effort that we have just launched with two of our sister agencies in the Department of Labor and with the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is focused on chronically homeless disabled individuals. Led by the White House, this interagency initiative is investing more than $13 million to help people with disabilities who are chronically homeless to achieve employment, permanent housing, and self-sufficiency.
The concept of customized employment is central to this effort. Customized employment means individualizing the employment relationship between employees and employers based on a determination of the strengths of the person with a disability.
Improving the employment results of people with disabilities requires the cooperation of the federal government, state and local governments, the private sector, service providers, and advocacy organizations.
We must work together to develop strategies for success. We must determine what barriers act as roadblocks-and we must remove them. As we move further into the 21st century, we are faced with new challenges.
The transformation we are currently undergoing creates a great opportunity in terms of employment for people with disabilities. Together we must make sure that the result is a society -- a world -- that affords opportunity for employment and community participation to all people.
Thank you for your kind attention. I will be happy to take questions later in this session.
