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METROSTATS Metropolitan Council | metrocouncil.org/metrostats | 3 The prevalence of disabilities increases as people age (Figure 3). The overall prevalence of people with disabilities in the region is likely to increase as the region’s demographic profile changes: According to the most recent regional forecast, the number of residents who are 65 or older will double between 2010 and 2030, and the share of resi- dents who are 65 or older will go from 13% in 2015 to 22% in 2040.2 If the likelihood of disability by age does not change, the region will have around 465,000 adults with disabilities in 2040—around 60% more than today. FIGURE 3. DISABILITIES AMONG AGE GROUPS IN THE TWIN CITIES REGION Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey five-year estimates, 2011-2015. 5.0% Age 17 or younger 18 to 34 35 to 64 65 to 74 Age 75 or older 44.9% 20.5% 9.4% 3.6% The prevalence of disabilities differs by race and ethnicity (Figure 4). About one in every six American Indian resi- dents have a disability, the highest share among racial and ethnic groups (for context, American Indian residents account for .5% of the region's total population). Disability among Black residents is the second-highest in the region (about one in every eight Black residents), followed by other residents of color (10.4%) and White residents (10%). FIGURE 4. DISABILITIES AMONG RACIAL/ETHNIC GROUPS IN THE TWIN CITIES REGION Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey five-year estimates, 2011-2015. American Indian 17.2% 13.3%10.4%10.0% Black Race not listed or multiracial White Latinx Asian 7.1%6.9% People with disabilities experience economic disparities, reflected in work status and earnings People with disabilities can face difficulties that undermine employment opportunities. In some cases, the nature of their disability prevents them from working, thus removing them from the labor force altogether. In other situa- tions, reluctance of employers to hire people with disabilities can make it challenging to get jobs. The persistent barriers to employment may discourage people with disabilities from seeking employment. These difficulties create stark disparities in the work status between people with and without disabilities (Figure 5). Consider that • Two in every five residents with disabilities are not in the labor force, compared with one in every 15 people without disabilities. • One in every four people with disabilities are employed full-time, compared with three in every five people with- out disabilities. • One in every 14 people with disabilities are actively seeking work, nearly double the share of people without disabilities. (While this group represents the unemployed, this is not the unemployment rate as is typically understood. To get the unemployment rate, we must limit our scope to include only those in the labor force. When we do that, we see that the unemployment rate of people with disabilities was 15% in 2011-2015, three times higher than that of people without disabilities at 5%.)