The role of education in the disability employment gap

Abstract The gap between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people in the UK was 33 percentage points (pp) in 2019. This is partly explained by the fact that disabled people have lower levels of education. To assess the role of education in the disability employment gap (DEG), we decompose this DEG into characteristics and structural components using Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition methods. If the average education levels of disabled people were raised to those of non-disabled people, the DEG could be reduced by 4 pp (12 per cent). This would leave a remaining gap of 11 pp (33 per cent) explained by other characteristics and 18 pp (55 per cent) attributable to structural barriers in the labour market. These results are consistent with other findings in the literature, showing educational inequalities to be an important explanation of the DEG. However, the results also highlight the continued relevance of structural barriers that are disproportionately hindering the employment prospects of disabled people.