Hiring more people with disabilities a possible fix to labor shortage

People living with intellectual and developmental disabilities say one solution to Georgia’s workforce shortage is to hire them.

In a 2020-21 report, National Core Indicators found 54% of Georgians living with a disability want a paid community job but can’t get one. That’s true even though 30% of them take classes or train to better their chances of gaining employment.

But efforts to form a commission focused on how best to expand resources for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities failed to pass by Monday’s Crossover Day, a deadline for bills to chart a smooth path to the governor’s desk.

Sponsors of the bill remain hopeful these key provisions can be tacked onto House Bill 520, which is designed to improve access to behavioral health services. The state Senate could still pass HB 520 this legislative session.

“I wasn’t able to get Senate Bill 198 through the Senate this year,” said Sen. Sally Harrell, an Atlanta Democrat and lead bill sponsor. “However, my plan is to put substitute language into House Bill 520 that will create a task force underneath the Behavioral Health Innovation Commission that will be dedicated to (intellectual or developmental disability) issues.”

Meanwhile, the state should modernize data management systems used to facilitate the waiting lists for services, she said.

“The waiting list can be managed better and (made) more transparent to the public to work towards the goals of making Georgia an employment first state,” Harrell said.

“If they’re still on the waiting list, then families are having to take care of their loved ones all alone. There are some family support dollars available,” Harrell said. “But for people who have been on the waiting list a long time, sometimes these are parents who have adult children, and the parents themselves are aging, and they’re getting worried. It’s like, what if something happens to me?”

Efforts to clear the 7,000-person waiting list for services through a Medicaid program have been complicated by a workforce shortage among caregivers who assist people with disabilities.

An updated budget proposal for next year unveiled last week in the House includes funding for 375 more people to receive services, up 125 slots from the governor’s proposed spending plan. A Senate study panel last year recommended lawmakers increase funding for another 2,400 people this year to begin to make a dent in the waiting list.

Thousands of Georgians with disabilities are also either left out of Georgia’s workforce, which is facing an ongoing shortage, or in jobs where employers can legally pay them less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

So last week, Employment First advocates took to the Capitol to put a face to the low-wage worker with disabilities and persuade legislators that a better Georgia is one that provides equal opportunities for these underemployed workers.

Advocates said that starts with reforming code 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, a federal code that dates back to the 1930s and allows employers to pay people with intellectual and developmental disabilities a subminimum wage.

Read more at GeorgiaRecorder.com.