Indicators from the 1996, 2001 and 2006 New Zealand Disability Surveys for monitoring progress on outcomes for disabled people
Labour force status
Labour force status refers to whether or not people are employed, unemployed, or not in the labour force.
‘Not in the labour force' means people who are neither employed nor unemployed. This includes people who are retired, students, informal carers of children or disabled people, people doing unpaid housework, people who are unable to work because of illness or disability and people who have become discouraged from actively seeking work.
‘Employed' means people working for one or more hours per week for pay or profit in a job, business or farm, or working without pay in a family business or farm. ‘Unemployed' means people not employed in a job, business or farm but actively looking for either full-time or part-time work (Statistics New Zealand 2002).
Data on the labour force status of disabled and non-disabled adults aged 15-64 participating in the 1996, 2001, and 2006 Disability Surveys were linked in from Census records. Figure 17 shows the percentage of disabled and non-disabled 15-64 year olds not in the labour force. For all three survey periods, disabled people were at least twice as likely as non-disabled people not to be in the labour force.
Figure 17 - Adults aged 16-64 not in the labour force
Source: Statistics New Zealand, Household Disability Surveys 1996, 2001, 2006
Note: Data for 2006 are not directly comparable to 1996 and 2001
Figure 18 shows the percentage of disabled and non-disabled 15–64 year olds who were employed. Again, for all three survey periods, disabled people were less likely to be employed than non-disabled people.
Figure 18 - Employed adults aged 15-64
Source: Statistics New Zealand, Household Disability Surveys 1996, 2001, 2006
Note: Data for 2006 are not directly comparable to 1996 and 2001
It would also be useful to compare rates of part-time and full-time employment for disabled and non-disabled people, however this information was unavailable for this report.
Table 15
| Labour force status for disabled and non-disabled adults | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By age group | ||||||||||
| 1996, 2001, 2006 | ||||||||||
|
Disability status and age group (years) | Labour force status | Total adults | ||||||||
| Employed | Unemployed | Not in labour force | Not elsewhere included | |||||||
| No. | Percent | No. | Percent | No. | Percent | No. | Percent | No. | Percent | |
| 1996 | ||||||||||
| Disabled | ||||||||||
| 15-24 | 19,500 | 51 | -- | -- | 14,000 | 37 | -- | -- | 38,200 | 100 |
| 15-44 | 86,900 | 57 | -- | -- | 55,800 | 37 | -- | -- | 151,500 | 100 |
| 45-64 | 99,300 | 51 | -- | -- | 91,900 | 47 | -- | -- | 195,800 | 100 |
| sub-total 15-64 | 205,800 | 53 | 17,800 | 5 | 161,800 | 42 | -- | -- | 385,500 | 100 |
| 65+ | -- | -- | -- | -- | 186,700 | 96 | -- | -- | 194,900 | 100 |
| Total | 213,800 | 37 | 17,800 | 3 | 348,400 | 60 | -- | -- | 580,400 | 100 |
| Non- disabled | ||||||||||
| 15-24 | 265,200 | 62 | 34,700 | 8 | 111,300 | 26 | 17,000 | 4 | 428,300 | 100 |
| 25-44 | 699,900 | 76 | 35,600 | 4 | 140,900 | 15 | 40,000 | 4 | 916,400 | 100 |
| 45-64 | 418,300 | 71 | 17,100 | 3 | 121,000 | 21 | 31,800 | 5 | 588,200 | 100 |
| Sub-total 15-64 | 1,383,400 | 72 | 87,300 | 5 | 373,200 | 19 | 88,900 | 5 | 1,932,900 | 100 |
| 65+ | 21,300 | 11 | -- | -- | 170,500 | 85 | -- | -- | 199,400 | 100 |
| Total | 1,404,700 | 66 | 88,000 | 4 | 543,700 | 25 | 95,900 | 4 | 2,132,300 | 100 |
| 2001 | ||||||||||
| Disabled | ||||||||||
| 15-24 | 19,900 | 45 | 4,200 | 9 | 20,100 | 45 | -- | -- | 44,400 | 100 |
| 25-44 | 100,600 | 64 | 12,200 | 8 | 43,500 | 28 | -- | -- | 157,500 | 100 |
| 45-64 | 114,800 | 55 | 8,100 | 4 | 84,800 | 41 | -- | -- | 209,100 | 100 |
| Sub-total 15-64 | 235,400 | 57 | 24,500 | 6 | 148,400 | 36 | -- | -- | 410,900 | 100 |
| 65+ | 12,800 | 6 | -- | -- | 199,900 | 93 | -- | -- | 215,600 | 100 |
| Total | 248,200 | 40 | 25,100 | 4 | 348,200 | 56 | 5,000 | 1 | 626,500 | 100 |
| Non-disabled | ||||||||||
| 15-24 | 227,600 | 51 | 37,400 | 8 | 133,700 | 30 | 45,600 | 10 | 444,300 | 100 |
| 25-44 | 693,400 | 75 | 36,600 | 4 | 141,800 | 15 | 48,700 | 5 | 920,600 | 100 |
| 45-64 | 493,400 | 78 | 15,500 | 2 | 92,700 | 15 | 27,900 | 4 | 629,400 | 100 |
| Sub-total 15-64 | 1,414,300 | 71 | 89,500 | 4 | 368,200 | 18 | 122,200 | 6 | 1,994,300 | 100 |
| 65+ | 31,900 | 16 | -- | -- | 159,700 | 78 | 13,400 | 7 | 205,400 | 100 |
| Total | 1,446,200 | 66 | 89,900 | 4 | 527,900 | 24 | 135,600 | 6 | 2,199,700 | 100 |
| 2006 | ||||||||||
| Disabled | ||||||||||
| 15-24 | 13,000 | 39 | 4,900 | 15 | 15,300 | 46 | -- | -- | 33,200 | 100 |
| 25-44 | 71,100 | 66 | 5,900 | 5 | 31,000 | 29 | -- | -- | 108,000 | 100 |
| 45-64 | 122,900 | 59 | 5,700 | 3 | 77,900 | 38 | -- | -- | 207,100 | 100 |
| Sub-total 15-64 | 207,000 | 59 | 16,500 | 5 | 124,200 | 36 | -- | -- | 348,300 | 100 |
| 65+ | 18,400 | 10 | -- | -- | 172,000 | 90 | -- | -- | 190,900 | 100 |
| Total | 225,400 | 42 | 16,700 | 3 | 296,200 | 55 | -- | -- | 539,200 | 100 |
| Non-disabled | ||||||||||
| 15-24 | 264,200 | 55 | 37,700 | 8 | 138,100 | 29 | 36,600 | 8 | 476,600 | 100 |
| 25-44 | 784,900 | 81 | 24,100 | 2 | 122,100 | 13 | 40,400 | 4 | 971,500 | 100 |
| 45-64 | 677,100 | 81 | 12,000 | 1 | 103,000 | 12 | 39,100 | 5 | 831,300 | 100 |
| Sub-total 15-64 | 1,726,200 | 76 | 73,800 | 3 | 363,300 | 16 | 116,100 | 5 | 2,279,300 | 100 |
| 65+ | 59,300 | 22 | -- | -- | 201,300 | 74 | 12,300 | 4 | 273,800 | 100 |
| Total | 1,785,400 | 70 | 74,800 | 3 | 564,600 | 22 | 128,400 | 5 | 2,553,200 | 100 |
Source: Statistics New Zealand, 1996, 2001, 2006 Household Disability Survey
Note: Data for 2006 are not directly comparable with those for 1996 and 2001
Due to rounding, individual numbers may not sum to stated totals
Percent = percentage of adults living in households
Symbol: -- figure too small to be expressed
