Do Learners with Disabilities Make Up the Majority of the Skills Gap in Service Sector Jobs?

Before you read ahead, answer the question for yourself, do you think that learners with disabilities make up the majority of the skills gap in service sector jobs?  Next, read the following excerpt from the National Skills Coalition (NSC)'s report: Foundational Skills in the Service Sector:  Understanding and addressing the impact of limited math, reading, and technology proficiency on workers and employers.

Understanding the demographic and other key characteristics of service sector workers with low basic skills can help inform strategies for aiding these workers to build skills and achieve economic mobility. NSC found that:
  • Workers are demographically diverse, and most are adults.
  • Three-quarters were born in the United States.
  • Many have completed their K-12 education.
  • Among workers who do not speak English as their first language, most began learning English as children or teens
  • They are not especially likely to have learning disabilities. 
While it may seem logical that workers with low skills would be more likely to have a learning disability than the general population, it is not clear that this is actually the case. Our analysis shows that just over 10% of workers with low basic skills have been diagnosed or identified as having a learning disability. In comparison, 5% of current K-12 public school students in the US are being served by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act due to a specific learning disability, while National Center for Learning Disabilities estimates that as many as another 15% of students may have “unidentified and unaddressed learning and attention issues.”
 
Regardless, it is clear that while some adult learners certainly require support to address diagnosed or undiagnosed learning disabilities, such disabilities alone cannot account for the large number of service sector workers with basic skills gaps.
 
Does this square with your experience working to address learners' skills gaps?  How do these results affect how you may think about addressing this problem differently?
 
Mike Cruse
Disabilities in Adult Education Moderator
michaelcruse74@gmail.com