Data Spotlight: Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Workers with Disabilities in Skilled Trade Professions

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• By: David Rosenblum, Alexandra Ruth • May 10, 2023

How many Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders with disabilities are working in skilled trade positions?

During Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we are spotlighting data on AA and NHPI workers with disabilities in skilled trade professions, which are critical for maintaining everyday infrastructure. These professions include the following major occupation groups:

•    Production.
•    Transportation.
•    Construction, Extraction and Agriculture.
•    Repair, Installation and Maintenance.

One of the Department of Labor’s high-priority program goals for advancing equity, justice and opportunity for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AA and NHPIs) is to publish labor force data separated out for AA and NHPI subgroups to better understand how they’re faring in the labor market.

This analysis is one in an ongoing series focusing on workers with disabilities in skilled trade professions in support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Good Jobs Initiative. The initiative provides critical information to workers, employers, and government agencies as they work to improve job quality and create access to good jobs free from discrimination and harassment for all working people, with emphasis on underserved communities. Among the key findings are that 18% (approximately 56,000) AA and NHPI workers with disabilities are working in skilled trade professions.

As with previous analyses (focused on people with disabilities overall, disabled Black workers and disabled women workers), these data were extracted from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for 2017 through 2021. The industry codes and groupings come from the Standard Occupational Classification System, which is a federal statistical standard that is used to group workers into different occupations based on job titles.

What types of skilled trade professions are most common among AA and NHPI workers with disabilities?

As the pie chart below shows, most disabled AA and NHPI workers employed in skilled trades are working in production (44%) or transportation (36%). The least most common categories are construction/extraction/agriculture (10%) and repair/installation/maintenance (10%).

Pie chart titled “AA and NHPI Workers with Disabilities Working in Skilled Trades, by Trade Category.” Production and Transportation occupations comprise four-fifths of trades jobs for AA and NHPI workers with disabilities. — This pie chart, showing what trades disabled AA and NHPI workers work in, shows that 44% are in production trades, 36% are in transportation, 10% are in repair, installation and maintenance trades and 10% are in construction, extraction and agriculture trades.

What are the age distributions of AA and NHPI workers in skilled trades with disabilities, separated out by gender?

As the bar chart below shows, the largest group of disabled AA and NHPI workers employed in skilled trades are men aged 55-64. In every age group, the number of disabled AA and NHPI men in skilled trades is larger than the number of disabled AA and NHPI women in skilled trades.

Bar chart titled “Number of AA and NHPI Workers in Skilled Trades with Disabilities, by Age and Gender.” Across all age categories, there are considerably more male workers in trades occupations than female workers. — For men, the number working in trades aged 16 to 24 is under 3,000, but this increases over each age bracket to around 5,000 for 25 to 34, around 5,500 for 35-44, over 8,000 for 45-54 to more than 11,000 for those aged 55 to 64. The number working in trades significantly declines after that, to less than 6,000 for 65 to 74, and around 1,000 for 75+. For women, 1,000 aged 16 to 24 work in trades, increasing slightly to about 2,000 for 25 to 34, just over 2,000 for 35-44 to more than 4,000 for those aged 45 to 64. The total number of workers declines significantly after as well, to just over 2,000 workers from 65-74 to less than 1,000 for 75+.

What types of disabilities are most common for disabled AA and NHPI workers who are employed in skilled trades?

As the pie chart below shows, more than a quarter of disabled AA and NHPI workers in skilled trades report having multiple disabilities (26%). For those who report having only one type of disability, the most common is hearing difficulties (21%) followed by ambulatory difficulties (18%), vision difficulties (16%), cognitive difficulties (14%), and errands or dressing/bathing difficulties (5%).

Pie chart titled “Types of Disabilities among AA and NHPI Workers in Skilled Trade Professions.” One-fourth of these workers have multiple types of disability, which are distributed across hearing, vision, ambulatory, and cognitive disabilities. — This pie chart shows the types of disabilities among disabled AA and NHPI workers in skilled trade, with the most common category, with 26%, being having multiple disabilities, followed by hearing only disabilities at 21%, ambulatory only disabilities at 18%, vision-only disabilities at 16%, cognitive-only disabilities at 14%, and errands or dressing/bathing only at 5%.

What are the main trade industries that employ AA and NHPI workers with disabilities?

A detailed look at the distribution of workers in skilled trades across different industries using the North American Industry Classification System shows that most disabled AA and NHPI workers in skilled trades are working in the manufacturing industry, numbering around 22,000 workers. The components of this chart are defined by industry of employer, as opposed to the occupation or function of the employee.

Tree chart titled “Numbers of AA and NHPI Workers with Disabilities Employed in Trades, by NAICS Industry Categories.” — This tree chart shows that, according to the NAICS industry classification categories, 22,000 disabled AA and NHPI workers in skilled trades are employed in the manufacturing industry, followed by 10,000 in retail and wholesale trade, 8,000 in transportation, 5,000 in goods-producing industries other than manufacturing and 11,000 in service industries other than retail/wholesale trade and transportation.

What are the wage gaps between disabled and non-disabled AA and NHPI workers in different occupational categories, including both skilled trades and other professions?

The smallest wage gap between AA and NHPI workers with disabilities versus those without disabilities can be found in Repair/Installation/Maintenance, a skilled trade occupational category. Wage gaps between disabled and non-disabled AA and NHPI workers are larger overall in non-trade categories such as Management and Service professions. Note: These data are restricted to employees who work full-time (usually worked at least 35 hours per week), worked at least 50 weeks in the last year, and have positive earnings.

Bar chart titled “Mean Annual Wages for AA and NHPI Workers, by Disability Status and Occupational Category.” — Overall, AA and NHPI workers with disabilities earn less than AA and NHPI workers without disabilities in all occupational categories, except for the repair/installation/maintenance occupational category, which is a trade profession category. In non-trades occupations, both management/professional occupations and sales/office occupations have substantial income gaps favoring those without disabilities, though the gap for service occupations is smaller. For trades occupations, there is no meaningful gap for repair/installation/maintenance occupations, while relatively modest gaps exist for construction/extraction/agriculture occupations, production occupations, and transportation occupations.

David Rosenblum is a senior economist and Alexandra Ruth is a data scientist in the department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.

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