On Thursday 4 July 2024 the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the findings from their 2022 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers.
Statistics play an important role in helping governments understand what policies and programs are or are not working. This means governments can use the information to target future resources to areas where improvement is needed. It also influences funding decisions and where the government decides to invest.
In the survey a person is considered to have disability if they have any limitation, restriction or impairment which restricts everyday activities and has lasted, or is likely to last, for six months or more.
Here we look at a few of the new disability related statistics and provide some context.
Overview
The 2022 survey found that:
There was an increase in the number of Australians with disability
As of 2022, there are now 5.5 million Australians with disability. This represents 21.4% of the total population. This is an increase from 4.4 million (17.7% of the population) in 2018. Prevalence of disability is roughly the same for men and women (21.0% for men and 21.8% for women). 4.9% of people with disability described their sexual orientation as gay or lesbian, bisexual or used a different term such as asexual, pansexual or queer (LGBTQI+).
The increase in the number of people with disability poses significant implications for state and federal government planning and resource distribution across most sectors, including education and training, housing, and Commonwealth financial assistance payments.
The increase in Australians with profound impairment (from 3.2% in 2018 to 4.1% in 2022) means more people may need the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Funding for essential disability related services and support needs to be increased across the board, otherwise people with disability risk receiving even less than is needed to live with dignity. It is critical that governments work closely with representative bodies like PWDA to ensure needs are understood and met.
The rate of disability increases markedly with age.
Whereas about 1 in 7 (15.0%) people who are under 65 years old had disability in 2022, around 1 in 2 (52.3%) people aged 65 years or older had disability in 2022. Increasing disability prevalence and an ageing population are key social policy challenges facing governments today. We know that many older people living on the aged pension face severe financial hardship, including increased housing instability. Add disability in as well and the situation for them becomes a crisis. Current rules prevent a person aged over 65 from accessing NDIS support even if they have received it previously, exacerbating stress and anxiety, and potential health emergency, while they seek out and transition to other forms of support (which may not be available.) More urgently needs to be done to support older Australians with disability to maintain dignity, health, and their connections to community.
There has been some small improvement in employment for people with disability
The labour force participation rate for people with disability aged 15-64 rose to 60.5% in 2022, up from 53.4% in 2018. More people with disability are also employed. Of the 2.7 million people living with disability in households in 2022 of working age, 56.1% were employed compared with 53.4% in 2018. However, these numbers still lag those for people without disability. The labour force participation rate for people without disability is 84.9% and the employment rate for working age people without disability is 82.3%.
Similarly, while the unemployment rate for people with disability has improved, at 7.3%, (down from 10.3% in 2018) it remains too high – more than double the rate for people without disability (3.1%).
People with disability can experience restrictions on their engagement with work. Government and employers need to understand disability and individual restrictions and ensure reasonable adjustments so people with disability can exercise choice and control in engaging in the workforce and securing meaningful employment in the open market.
Wages or salaries are the main source of income for people with disability and this has been increasing
Wages or salaries increased its percentage of source of income for people with disability from 37.6% in 2018 to 48.9% in 2022. Government pensions or allowances only accounted for income for 28.5% of people with disability down from 37.9% in 2018 (itself a decrease from 41.9% in 2015). Such insights directly challenge the ongoing assumptions and stereotypes held by many people without disability that people with disability are overwhelmingly reliant on government payments. These assumptions and stereotypes are wrong. People with disability want to work and contribute to their communities in proper jobs. Not only does supporting people with disability into open employment paying proper wages enhance their personal well-being, it makes good economic sense as they pay taxes and are less reliant on government. It is worth noting that people with disability overall continue to earn significantly less than people without disability. In 2022, the median gross personal income of people with disability was only $575 per week, compared with $1055 per week for people without disability. Reasons for this include people with disability, while employed enough to not receive government payments, may be working part-time or casually only, and in lower paid occupations. The statistics raise concerns that people with disability may be at increased risk of not being able to afford basic needs with the rising cost of living.
Educational attainment shows some improvement.
Pleasingly, there have been some indications of increased educational attainment of people with disability. The number of people with disability aged over 15 and living in households completing year 12 or equivalent has increased from 33.4% in 2018 to 45.3% in 2022. Survey findings also show that almost one in five (19.7%) persons with disability had a Bachelor degree or above, an increase from 16.1% in 2018. There were further small increases in those with an advanced diploma or diploma – 9.2% in 2019 to 10.4% in 2022.
Education is the key mechanism through which a person can be empowered to participate fully in the social, cultural, and critically, economic life of their community. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities makes clear that access to an inclusive education for people with disability is a human right. It is a ‘gateway’ right that supports realisation of all other rights. Implementing inclusive education systems through early learning, primary, secondary, technical and vocational and higher education schooling supports the development of inclusive communities and inclusive workplaces.
Our next blog post unpacking the ABS Statistics will look at the new statistics around discrimination, abuse and neglect, and social and community participation for people with disability.
For a full outline of the updated statistics head to the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.
The ABS have also released the findings in accessible formats including: