Study: Disabled immigrants work more than U.S.-born people with disabilities

From All Headline News:

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- More immigrants with disabilities work than disabled people who were born in the United States, according to a new study from the Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Lead researcher Dr. Huiyun Xiang said the primary reason for this is that U.S.-born people with disabilities have more access to public assistance and may not depend as much on salary income.

Eligibility to public assistance for immigrants can be complicated by a number of factors such as length of residency, citizenship, refugee status and work history, Xiang said in a statement.

In 2007, there were about 24 million working-age adults with disabilities in the United States. About 8.5 million of these people were employed.

The most common type of employment for immigrants with disabilities is in production and cleaning and maintenance.

For domestic-born Americans, the most common type of work is in sales and office and administrative support, the researchers said.

The median income for a foreign-born person with disabilities was $20,000, which is $2 less a year than U.S.-born people with disabilities.

The study is published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.