Addressing Labor Shortages

The pandemic caused a major disruption in the nation’s labor force, with more than 47 million Americans including people with disabilities leaving their jobs. Many of them are getting re-hired elsewhere after finding a job that offers better pay, improved work-life balance, and flexibility. 

This creates a tight labor force for the nonprofit agencies participating in the AbilityOne Program where they are experiencing challenges with hiring and recruiting qualified job candidates. These challenges are further exacerbated by the lack of referrals from State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies, limited support from local school systems, and wage competition. 

SourceAmerica urges policymakers to identify a creative solution to address labor shortages, including staffing issues, wage compression, and raising wage determination rates for geographical areas with a higher minimum wage requirement.