Data Spotlight: Employment of Hispanics with Disabilities in Skilled Trades Professions

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• By: David Rosenblum, Felix Wu • September 15, 2023

How many Hispanic workers with disabilities are in skilled trade professions?

A core goal of the Biden-Harris administration’s Good Jobs Initiative is to increase equitable pathways to good jobs in infrastructure for underrepresented groups, including women, people of color and individuals with disabilities. Many infrastructure jobs, such as those in skilled trade professions, have training requirements that are shorter than a typical four-year degree program, allowing quicker entry into the workforce.

To gain a better understanding of how many disabled Hispanic individuals are currently working in skilled trade professions, we analyzed the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data for 2017 through 2021. The industry codes are derived from the Standard Occupational Classification System (SOC), which is a federal statistical standard that is used to group workers into different occupations based on job titles.

Of the approximately 5.1 million Hispanic adults aged 16 and older with disabilities, about 1,410,000 are currently employed, and of these disabled workers an estimated 430,000 (or 30.5%) are working in skilled trade professions. This compares to 32.2% of non-disabled Hispanic workers in skilled trades professions, or 21.9% of all workers. Skilled trade jobs are critical for maintaining everyday infrastructure and include the following major occupation groups:

Farming, Fishing and Forestry
Construction and Extraction
Installation, Maintenance and Repair
Production
Transportation and Material Moving

Data highlight: Among Hispanic workers with disabilities, 30.5% are working in skilled trade professions, of which the largest proportion are working in Transportation at 35%.

The pie chart shows that most disabled Hispanic workers in skilled trade professions work in Transportation at 35%. The next most common skilled trade categories are Construction and Extraction at 25% and Production at 24%, followed by Installation/Maintenance/Repair at 11% and Farming/Fishing/Forestry at 6%.

Data highlight: Women make up slightly over one-fifth (20.4%) of the 430,000 Hispanic workers with disabilities working in skilled trades, a proportion that is consistent across different age groups.

A bar chart shows the number of Hispanic workers with disabilities in skilled trade professions by age category and gender. Overall, the largest number of disabled Hispanic men and women working in skilled trades are between the ages 16 and 34. For each age category, Hispanic men with disabilities outnumber Hispanic women with disabilities working in skilled trades professions. The overall proportion of women among disabled Hispanic workers in skilled trades professions is 20.4% (not displayed in the chart). — **A bar chart shows the** **number** of **Hispanic** **workers with disabilities in skilled trade professions by age** **category** and gender. Overall, the largest number of disabled Hispanic men and women working in skilled trades are between the ages 16 and 34. For each age category, Hispanic men with disabilities outnumber Hispanic women with disabilities working in skilled trades professions. The overall proportion of women among disabled Hispanic workers in skilled trades professions is 20.4% (not displayed in the chart).

Data highlight: About one-fourth (26%) of Hispanic workers with disabilities in skilled trades professions report having multiple disabilities. For Hispanic workers reporting only one type of disability, the most prevalent type is vision disability (21%).

The pie chart shows the proportions of disabilities reported by disabled Hispanic workers in skilled trade professions. The largest section of the pie chart is for disabled Hispanic workers who report having multiple disabilities at 26%, followed by vision disability (21%), hearing disability (19%), ambulatory disability (16%), cognitive disability (15%) and dressing/bathing or errands difficulties (4%).

Data highlight: A detailed look at the distribution of skilled trade professions across industry of employer, using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), shows that most Hispanic workers with disabilities in skilled trade professions are employed in the Construction, Manufacturing, Retail & Wholesale Trade and Transportation industries.

A tree chart shows which industries employ Hispanic adults with disabilities in skilled trade occupations, with 102,000 in construction, 95,000 in manufacturing, 69,000 in retail or wholesale trade, 50,000 in transportation and warehousing, 25,000 in agriculture, and 87,000 in all other industries combined. Other industries include mining, utilities, information, finance, real estate and leasing, professional services, management of companies, administrative support services, health care, education, arts and entertainment, accommodation and food services, other services and public administration.

Data highlight: Hispanic workers with disabilities in both Construction/Extraction/Agriculture occupations and Repair/ Installation/Maintenance occupations have higher earnings than Hispanic workers without disabilities in the same occupational categories. Note: These data include employees who are full-time (usually worked at least 35 hours per week), worked at least 50 weeks in the last year, and have positive earnings.

This bar chart shows the mean annual wages for skilled trade profession occupation categories as well as non-trade categories for Hispanic workers with and without disabilities. The bars on the chart for each category report the wages for disabled Hispanic workers vs. non-disabled Hispanic workers. The wage gaps are smaller in every skilled-trade category compared to the gaps in every non-trade category, and Hispanic workers with disabilities have higher earnings in two skilled trade categories: Construction/Extraction/Agriculture occupations and Repair/Installation/Maintenance occupations, though none of the differences in the skilled trade occupations are statistically significant.* In non-trades occupational categories, Hispanic workers without disabilities report higher mean annual wages compared to Hispanic workers with disabilities, and the differences are statistically significant.*

Data highlight: Across all occupational categories, including both skilled trade and non-trade categories, Non-Hispanic White workers with disabilities have higher mean wages than Hispanic workers with disabilities. Note: These data include employees who are full-time (usually worked at least 35 hours per week), worked at least 50 weeks in the last year, and have positive earnings.

This is a bar chart showing wage gaps between Hispanic workers with disabilities and Non-Hispanic White workers with disabilities in different occupation categories, including both skilled trade and non-trade professions. The largest wage gap between Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White workers with disabilities exists in the non-trade Management/Professional occupation category. The smallest wage gap between Hispanic and Non-Hispanic disabled workers exists in the skilled trades Repair/Installation/Maintenance (9.9%) and Transportation (11.0%) occupation categories. All differences in mean annual wages within occupational categories between Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White workers are statistically significant.*

*Tests of statistical significance were conducted using a 95% level of confidence.

David Rosenblum is a senior economist and Felix Wu is an intern and Industrial-Organizational Psychology Ph.D. candidate at Rice University, in the department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.

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