State Budget Cuts Devastate Job Market for People with Disabilities
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February 26, 2010
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - As legislators scramble to balance a budget with a $13-billion deficit, funding for human services programs is being slashed. According to the Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities in Illinois, 60 percent of working-age people with disabilities in the state are unemployed - and their number of job opportunities is shrinking due to state budget cuts.
Brad Mosier knows about the problem first-hand. As someone with cerebral palsy, it was difficult to find work in rural Colfax, but after a lot of networking, he landed a job and left his hometown for Springfield. Unfortunately, the job was short-lived when he was laid off due to state budget cuts.
"It was disappointing having moved from an area here I was not able to work and then moved here and then be laid off in a month. I mean, with the way layoffs have occurred across the state, it's affecting everybody. But, it magnifies these subgroups."
Luckily, Mosier landed his part-time job with the Coalition, which pulled extra funds out of their operating budget to employ him while he looked for something permanent.
Rhonda Hollinshead, the Coalition's advocacy coordinator, says communication is an important key to decreasing the jobless rate among people with disabilities.
"In the state, we need to have better coordination and communication among the programs and services that support employment. A lot of the information we have on benefits planning and employment still is kind of fragmented, or it's inconsistent. Sometimes it's absent."
Earlier this month, representatives with the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy made Chicago a stop on its six-state Listening Sessions tour, which ends next month. The purpose of the tour is to get feedback from advocates and the public on ways to boost employment for people with disabilities.