Despite a critical worker shortage across the country, disabled Kiwis remain a largely "untapped" resource in the employment market.
New data from Statistics NZ found 7.9% of those with disabilities between 15 and 64 years old are unemployed, compared to 3.3% of the general population.
The rate's dropped slightly from the June quarter of 2021, when it was 9.6%, with a gap of 5.6%.
Stats NZ's Labour Market Manager, Malak Shafik said: "That is a declining trend, as we've seen in the series since it started in 2017."
But what's unchanged since last year, is the disabled unemployment rate is 2.4 times the unemployment rate for non-disabled New Zealanders.
CCS Disability Action's Debbie Ward, who lives with disability herself, said: "Considering the struggle it is to get staff at the moment for businesses I am surprised that gap hasn't closed more.
"The biggest barrier is the unconscious bias and myths employers hold around employing disabled people."
A neurodivergent employment pilot just been launched by New Zealand Police, who're looking to bring more disabled Kiwis into their workforce.
"We've recognised that actually in the community, there's a significant number of neurodiverse individuals who are highly capable, highly skilled, and are not actually able to navigate the standard recruitment processes, and so we felt there was an opportunity there for us to leverage off these at the untapped skills that are potentially available out there in the community," head of the financial intelligence unit, Detective Inspector Christiaan Barnard said
He's working with Autism New Zealand to fill three roles in the financial crime team that've been identified as suitable for autistic Kiwis.
The roles include a research analyst position and two data analysts and they've had 23 applications.
"There's a number of considerations at play, including the environment that they'll be working in, socialising the rest to the workforce and really preparing them for neurodiverse people entering into the workforce and then also working through a really comprehensive recruitment process for them," Barnard said.
"Rather than taking them through an interview, we've actually got a two day workshop where they will be bought in, and there will be an opportunity for them to familiarise themselves with the environment that they may end up working in."
He said they've put the needs of neurodiverse Kiwis at the centre of the process, right down to the way they wrote the position descriptions.
"We're hoping that it will inspire other Government agencies or the private sector to also take the initiative as well and and look to start their own recruitment pilots."
The Warehouse Group has also worked with Autism New Zealand to employ three neurodiverse staff, including Eilish Sinclair.
She's two months into her role with the company's insights team and loves it, describing what she does as "magic."
But before she landed the position, she'd applied for 80 jobs.
"It's been a struggle but I feel very grateful and feel like I've won the lottery with this job."
Sinclair's manager Keryn McKenzie said employing her has been a "huge success."
She also told 1News, "it isn't that hard.. my one call to action is take the first step."
With recruitment, the Warehouse Group gave Eilish her interview question in advance and made the process more casual.
McKenzie said they've also utilised their flexible working policies and have quiet spaces available.
"When you think differently around how you can make your environment more inclusive, it is often really, really helpful for everybody," McKenzie said.
The Ministry of Social Development has acknowledged there's "untapped potential among the disabled community when it comes to employment."
Director of Client Service Delivery, Graham Allpress, said, "Many people with disabilities do want to work, but don’t always get the same opportunities as the wider population."
"At MSD, we want to see the unemployment gap for disabled people closing, which is why we provide dedicated financial support and services to people with disabilities and health conditions that are designed to create a more inclusive labour market."
He said support's been enhanced in recent years.
Ward wants to see more done, saying, "I would like to see some real good initiatives that really back and incentivise employers to employ more disabled workers in the workplace."
She doesn't think businesses' attitude are shifting fast enough, with many ongoing misperceptions.
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