Inequality and the Economic Cycle: Disabled Employees’ Experience of Work during the Great Recession in Britain

Abstract

Using unique questions introduced into the 2011 British Workplace EmploymentRelations Study, a detailed matched employee-employer survey, this article compares disabled and non-disabled employees' experience of the 2008-2009 recession to contribute a cyclical perspective on disability-related disadvantage at work. We find that disabled employees are more likely to report recessioninduced changes to workload, work organization, wages and access to training, even after controlling for personal, job and workplace characteristics. There is limited evidence that workplace equality characteristics moderate these relationships to protect disabled employees. These findings have particular resonance in the context of the COVID-19 recession.

COVID-19 and the labour market outcomes of disabled people in the UK

“…Disabled people also reported a more detrimental impact of COVID-19 on their life and wellbeing than non-disabled people ( ONS, 2021b ). The relative absence of disability in evidence on economic inequality is, however, consistent with broader neglect of the economic contribution of disabled people and dearth of labour market analysis relative to other protected characteristics ( Jones and Wass, 2013 ), including in relation to the economic cycle ( Jones et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Internationally disabled people have been found to be ‘first fired, last hired’ ( Kruse and Schur, 2003 ), with US evidence relating to the financial crisis confirming that disabled workers were more likely to be displaced ( Mitra, and Kruse, 2016 ). In the UK, Jones et al (2021) explore the in-work experience of the financial crisis, finding comparable disabled employees more likely to report recession-induced changes to workload, work organisation, wages and access to training than their non-disabled counterparts, a possible reflection of employers' greater ability to discriminate in a downturn and/or changing priorities from equality towards performance. Nevertheless, while providing important context, COVID-19 is distinct from previous downturns in the speed of contraction and subsequent recovery, its dramatic sectoral impact, and the extent of government support.…”

Exploring mental health disability gaps in the labour market: the UK experience during COVID-19

“…As well as these ’static’ explanations, there are also a number of reasons why labour market outcomes for MH disabled people may be differentially sensitive to economic downturns ( Jones et al., 2021 ). Firstly, the consequences will be influenced by the extent of segregation and segmentation.…”

Working from home and disabled people's employment outcomes

“…WERS has many advantages, including its size, national representativeness, the ability to include a rich set of both individual and workplace‐level controls, and the incorporation of measures not found in other surveys (Felstead et al., 2002: 205). Studies have previously drawn on WERS to assess flexible working (Budd & Mumford, 2006), working from home (Felstead et al., 2002) and disability (Hoque et al., 2018; Jones, 2016b; Jones et al., 2021). It thus provides a unique opportunity to explore working from home and disabled people's employment outcomes.…”