Placement Goals for Persons with Disabilities

As many Federal contractors may know, the OFCCP has announced through various conferences and webinars that they intend to require placement goals for persons with disabilities in the very near future. Hence, the question that the Federal contracting community is asking is: “Where is the OFCCP getting the numbers to drive such an ambitious goal?” Prior to 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics had not asked survey questions in regard to persons’ disabilities. However in 2008, in the annual American Community Survey (ACS), the Bureau started asking more questions about people with disabilities. The types of questions being asked have become more specific and extensive when compared to surveys from prior years.

Currently, the disability questions on the ACS focus on the effect of one’s disability upon his/her physical life as well as the person’s work history within the past year. Specifically, the questions revolved around the respondent’s disability and whether it affected their ability to work. Furthermore, questions were asked in regards to the respondents’ education, occupation, industrial sector they worked in, and wages. Thus, with the introduction of the new questions being asked about disability since 2008, the OFCCP will be able to determine availability for persons with disabilities by utilizing a three-year rollup of data from 2008, 2009, and 2010.