The employment status of groups with different disabilities was analysed as were potentially important moderating factors (work ability, structural and individual factors). A secondary analysis was performed on 4359 respondents with disabilities from Statistics Sweden's Labour Market Investigation. The respondents were divided into six disability groups (communicative-hearing, communicative-speech-reading, communicative-vision, psychological disability, medical disability, physical disability). Logistic regression analyses showed that the probability of being employed was highest among respondents with hearing disabilities and respondents with psychological disabilities were least likely to be employed. Being a woman (very young or old) with only primary education and with partially or very impaired work ability, reduced employment opportunities. Higher education did not increase employment opportunities for respondents with impaired workability. In summary, the type of disability is essential for employment opportunities, and differences between disability groups cannot be explained by differences in other variables. The moderating factors studied were found to be of equal importance in all groups.

BACKGROUND: More knowledge is needed of occupational attainment of persons with disabilities, i.e. the relationship between their educational level and their profession, and factors of importance for this relationship.

OBJECTIVE: To compare occupational attainment among persons with and without a disability.

METHOD: 3396 informants with disabilities and 19004 non-disabled informants participated (control group) in a survey study by Statistics Sweden. The informants with disabilities were divided into six groups.

RESULTS: Occupational attainment did not differ between the disability groups, neither between persons with and without a disability. Follow-up analysis showed that men with disabilities with primary or secondary school had an occupation above their educational level to a significantly larger extent than women with disabilities. This pattern was even clearer in comparison with the control group. Persons without disabilities, with secondary or higher education, were more successful in the labor market than persons with disabilities. Occupational attainment increased with age in both groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Young women with disabilities who only have primary or secondary education run a higher risk of having a job that is below their educational level than men at the same educational level. This indicates discriminating mechanisms in the society related to gender and ability.