Disability Employment Awareness Month: It Is Time to Rebalance the Labour Market
By Kevin McNichol, CEO, Prospect Human Services
Awareness matters. Employer action will determine whether more Albertans with disabilities gain a fair opportunity to work.
Each October, Disability Employment Awareness Month (DEAM) recognizes the contributions people with disabilities make in our workplaces and communities. It also celebrates employers that are creating meaningful employment opportunities. Yet progress has not occurred at the scale needed to make DEAM unnecessary.
For years, employers have told governments they cannot find enough workers. Governments have responded by investing in training, employment services and supports intended to expand the available labour pool. Alberta’s WorkFirst transformation is a major example: the Government of Alberta has reportedly invested $185 million, with significant funding directed to new, enhanced or expanded employment supports for job seekers with disabilities.
But Disability Employment Awareness Month should also prompt a harder question: If governments continue investing in the labour supply, when will employers take a larger, more direct role in creating opportunities for that talent?
Disability Employment Awareness Month creates an important opportunity to recognize untapped talent and the contributions people with disabilities bring to the workplace. That recognition matters most when it leads to action from employers willing to change how talent is found, welcomed and developed.
The gap is real
Statistics Canada reported that in 2023 the employment rate for Canadians with disabilities was 47.1%, compared with 66.9% for those without disabilities. Alberta had the country’s highest disability employment rate at 52.9%, but that still trailed the 69.4% employment rate for Albertans without disabilities.
This gap has survived decades of programming designed to help people become more employable. These programs remain essential, and the next step is for employers to match that investment with action—because lasting progress requires change on both the supply and demand sides of the labour market.
Employer choices shape outcomes
Employers control the point at which preparation becomes opportunity. They decide which qualifications are essential, whether candidates with transferable skills receive interviews, whether training is available and whether workplaces adapt to include a broader range of talent.
Statistics Canada found that more than one-third of working-age Canadians with disabilities considered themselves disadvantaged in employment because of their condition, and a similar proportion believed employers saw them that way. One in ten reported being refused a job, and 7% reported being refused an interview, because of their condition.
The evidence points beyond individual readiness. Assumptions about capability, productivity, risk and fit continue to shape who employers consider and hire. The employment gap is not simply a problem of job-seeker preparation; employer perceptions, screening practices and hiring decisions also help produce it.
A larger role for employers
The familiar labour-shortage response has focused heavily on preparing job seekers: government funds training and employment programs, service providers build skills and confidence, and candidates adapt to labour-market expectations. That work matters, but it can only succeed at scale when employers help create the opportunities it is designed to support.
This is where employers can make the decisive difference—not by lowering standards, but by widening how talent is recognized, assessed and developed.
“We look forward to collaborating to help build stronger and more inclusive communities.”
- McMan Calgary
We invite employers to help co-lead labour-force development: offer first opportunities, invest in training, reconsider requirements that do not predict success, strengthen pathways into work and help design regional workforce responses. These practical choices expand the talent pool while helping employers meet their own workforce needs.
Government has a role in changing the demand side
Governments want better employment results and are responding to employers’ calls for a larger, better-prepared workforce with significant public investment. Delivering those results requires government to invite and incent employer participation—and to expect meaningful action in return. Employers asked for action; government is acting. Employers must now adjust how they recruit, assess and develop talent so public investment translates into employment.
Social procurement is one practical way to reinforce this shared responsibility. Public purchasing can favour suppliers that demonstrate inclusive hiring, workforce development and measurable opportunities for people facing employment barriers. Training incentives, employer workforce tables and clear expectations for businesses benefiting from public contracts or labour-market programs can further connect public spending to measurable employment outcomes.
The practical question for employers is simple: What will you change to help solve the labour shortage you have identified?
From awareness to shared responsibility
At Prospect Human Services, we see ability every day in people who have been overlooked, screened out or told they are not quite ready. Their success begins when an employer is prepared to see potential and create a pathway into work.
Disability Employment Awareness Month should be more than a celebration. It should be a call to rebalance the labour market.
Government must keep investing in people. Service providers must keep improving how we support them. Employers must come fully to the table as builders of talent, designers of opportunity and accountable partners in Alberta’s workforce future.
Sources
Primary data and public reporting used in this article:
Statistics Canada, Labour market characteristics of persons with and without disabilities, 2023
Statistics Canada, Perceptions of labour market discrimination among persons with disabilities in Canada, 2025
EverythingGP, UCP’s new $185 million jobs program aims to transform workforce, says minister, September 16, 2025
Government of Alberta, WorkFirst Alberta Employer Toolkit
Note: The $185 million figure is reported as the Government of Alberta’s Budget 2025 investment in WorkFirst Alberta. This article describes the initiative as largely supply-side because its publicly identified services focus on preparing, supporting and connecting job seekers, while recognizing that WorkFirst also includes employer tools and engagement.