Left’s Attempts To Help Disabled Workers May Be Doing More Harm Than Good

While various Democrats and disability rights groups have been advocating in recent years for disabled workers to get paid higher wages, slashing certain low-wage job programs could potentially harmfully impact such workers.

Many workers with intellectual or developmental disabilities rely on sub-minimum wage job programs, which were established under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to allow employers to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. Various disability advocacy organizations and Democratic lawmakers in recent years have been calling for states to abolish job programs that pay sub-minimum wages, claiming that they are unjust and exploitative.

But some experts have warned that eliminating jobs that pay sub-minimum wages would actually end up reducing work opportunities for disabled individuals. There are also some concerns that raising the minimum wage could drive up costs for consumers and also lead to employers reducing employment of low-wage workers or adopting technological replacements for such workers, such as self-checkout kiosks.

“Obviously the main issue is that there are people out there with severe cognitive, developmental or physical disabilities that would find it incredibly difficult to find paid employment at ordinary minimum wage range,” Ryan Bourne, an economic expert at the Cato Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Just simply because, for various reasons, because of their productivity challenges, because of their need for constant supervision, for the fact that they may need to do tasks in modified ways that are costly to employers, a lot of employers just would not find it profitable to hire them. And so, if you raise their wage in line for the general prevailing wage for a job, if you’re an employer, you’re going to on the margin hire the person who is most likely going to do the job productively without needing all this special attention.”

Notably, people with disabilities working sub-minimum wage jobs are required to be paid commensurately “based on the worker’s individual productivity, no matter how limited,” in proportion to the wage and productivity of experienced workers who do not have disabilities performing essentially the same type of work, according to the Department of Labor.

“The main problem with abolishing sub-minimum wages is that it’s going to severely reduce job opportunities for those with the most severe disabilities,” Bourne said.

A slew of states introduced legislation in the past few years to begin phasing out sub-minimum wage programs, including Nevada, California and Virginia. In January, Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill into law that will eliminate sub-minimum wages in his state by 2030.

In Washington state, which passed a bill in 2021 to phase out its 14(c) program, a Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction survey published in 2023 found that 25.73% of the state’s students with disabilities had not enrolled in higher education or engaged in employment opportunities within a year after leaving high school.

Moreover, the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Labor (DOL) announced a proposed rule in December 2024 aimed at gradually phasing out the issuance of section 14(c) certificates. An estimated 38,524 individuals earned sub-minimum wages in the U.S. as of July 2024, according to DOL data collected by the Association Of People Supporting Employment First.

In 2023, roughly 789,000 workers in the U.S. had wages below the federal minimum, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Quite often, these [sub-minimum wage] jobs kind of offer structure, supervision and training that would not normally exist in typical wage environments,” Bourne explained to the DCNF. “The main reason many families of disabled workers kind of highly value these jobs is not the level of pay, which is often relatively low, but because these tasks and going to work regularly provides a source of self-worth, independence and structure to people who don’t have many opportunities because of their disabilities.”

The total number of employed individuals with disabilities of working age increased by 1.52 million post-pandemic, increasing from 4.7 million in the first quarter of 2020 to 6.22 million in the first quarter of 2024, according to the DOL.

Still, many Democrats have continued to call for the elimination of sub-minimum wage employment in the U.S. in recent years, including Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who wrote in a December 2024 post on X that sub-minimum wages were “unfair” and “inhumane.”

Similarly, Democratic Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth criticized sub-minimum wages in a January 2021 post on X, stating that they were “outdated” and “exploitative.” Meanwhile, Democratic Washington Sen. Patty Murray claimed in a social media post the same month that employers paying workers sub-minimum wages was “discrimination” and “unconscionable.”

Despite Democrats’ ongoing attempts to abolish sub-minimum wages, some Republican lawmakers have argued in favor of the 14(c) program, such as Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, who wrote in a Wednesday post on X that abolishing sub-minimum wages for workers would hurt disabled individuals.

“Workshops like MARVA in Russellville and similar organizations are a true blessing to their client-workers, their families, customers, and all Arkansans,” Cotton wrote in the social media post. “Getting rid of the 14c rule would do serious harm to these hard-working individuals and their families.”

Shortly after the DOL introduced in December 2024 its proposed rule to phase out the 14(c) program, Republican North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx claimed in a statement that the proposal was “misguided and irresponsible” and would ultimately harm disabled workers.

“This is misguided and irresponsible,” Foxx wrote in the statement. “We have plenty of evidence that shows 14(c) doesn’t destroy opportunities for individuals with disabilities, it protects them. In states that have eliminated or transitioned away from the 14(c) program, those who were part of them often end up jobless and isolated. The Biden-Harris administration should withdraw this proposed rule immediately because all Americans deserve to find dignity in work.”