Long urges small businesses to create more jobs for workers with special needs

U.S. Rep. Billy Long (R-MO) is shining a spotlight on the employment gap for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and the important role small businesses play in closing it.

“Each American should have the opportunity to contribute to our economy in a meaningful way,” Long noted in his newsletter on Friday. “It’s possible. Numerous businesses have proven this to be the case.”

More than 500,000 small businesses in Missouri employ more than 1 million people and 99.7 percent of all employer firms across the country are small businesses that employ more than 50 percent of the private-sector workforce.

However, Long cited the 2016 Disability Statistics Annual Report, which revealed only 35 percent of individuals with intellectual and developmental disorders were employed compared to 76 percent of individuals that did not have disorders.

“Over time, the gap between individuals with intellectual and developmental disorders and those who don’t has increased,” he noted.

That employment gap rose to 41.1 percentage points in 2015 from 38.8 percentage points in 2008, he said. In Missouri, the employment rate for individuals with intellectual and developmental disorders is 35 percent, Long added.

Small businesses in southwest Missouri have stepped up to close the employment gap, including SWI Industrial Solutions and Joplin Workshops, Inc. Both businesses create opportunities for workers with special needs.

“It’s organizations like these that help encourage other businesses to expand job opportunities to individuals with intellectual and developmental disorders that they otherwise would not have,” Long concluded. “I will continue to visit these businesses in southwest Missouri to hear what does and does not work.