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We Need to Talk About the Autism Unemployment Rate
- May 31
- 4 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Written by : Gracie Wise
I'm going to be frank: the autism unemployment rate is high.
A lot of young adults can relate to painstakingly filling and sending out hundreds and hundreds of job applications to multiple companies––only to be ghosted or flat-out rejected two weeks later.
But for autistic adults, finding and keeping a job can be especially brutal.
While there are plenty of autistic people in the workforce, a vast number of them remain unemployed––or underemployed––to this day.
To make matters worse, employees with autism are prone to unfair judgment and bullying from their co-workers, managers, supervisors, and employers. A lack of understanding of and empathy for neurodivergent folks are the two main ingredients for a toxic work environment for autistics.
Make no mistake: the current job market is failing adults with autism. In fact, it's been this way for years.
Autism Unemployment Is a National Crisis
According to a study from the National Library of Medicine in 2021, the autism unemployment rate is approximately 40%; some journals, organizations, and media outlets, however, estimate that it’s 85%.
The numbers for autistic employers are just as shameful. Roughly 80% of them work part-time jobs, with only 16% to 20% of them in full-time jobs.
Wages aren’t any better. On average, employees with autism working part-time jobs earn $9.11 per hour; full-time employees can earn as low as $8.08 per hour.
These numbers are abysmal for a country that calls itself the land of freedom and opportunity–so much for pursuing the American dream.
But why is the autism unemployment rate so high? What’s making it difficult for autistic adults to advance in their careers and achieve their dreams?
Employers Contribute to the High Autism Unemployment Rate Through Discrimination
That’s right: employers are still mistreating, judging, and ridiculing autistic people in 2026.
One example is the job interviewing process. Candidates with autism often struggle to get through job interviews, mainly because interviewers often judge them for their different communication and social skills, some of which include not making enough eye contact or fidgeting during the interview.
In other words, it doesn’t matter if they have the skills or competence to get the job done; displaying those traits at any time can automatically result in being disqualified.
Besides, scoring a job doesn’t guarantee overall satisfaction. Unless they’re working in a neuro-affirming environment, autistic employees can face sensory and social barriers that hinder their ability to work successfully.
For example, an employee struggling to work in an open-plan office may ask their boss if they can wear noise-cancelling headphones to help them focus. While some are understanding and allow that accommodation, others may rebuff it, insisting that they can’t get special treatment.
Many autistic employees are vulnerable to being judged and excluded by their co-workers and employers–for the crime of being autistic. It can be for something as simple as preferring to spend their lunch breaks in their workspace alone instead of the break room, or not meeting the unspoken expectations of their superiors when completing a task.
But worst of all, autistics have reported that they’ve been reprimanded and even fired for misunderstandings and social blunders related to their disability. Instead of taking into consideration that they may have a unique working style and––more importantly, a neurodivergent brain––they tell them to pack their belongings and leave, without giving them a chance.
Autism: To Disclose or Not to Disclose?
That is quite a tricky dilemma for autistic adults in the workplace.
On one hand, disclosing their autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis can be a gamechanger. There’s a chance that their employer will be supportive of their employees by allowing them to use accommodations and assessing their job performance fairly, keeping their disability in mind. Autistic employees who are working in an autism-friendly environment may feel less inclined to mask, reducing the likelihood of burnout.
On the other hand, their employer may not take that news too kindly. They may use it as an excuse to deny them a job offer, micromanage their everyday tasks, and exclude them from important career advancement opportunities on the sole basis of their disability.
Autistic employees may also have the misfortune of being talked down to and having their capabilities diminished by their co-workers and superiors, again because of their diagnosis. This type of mistreatment is known as infantilization, which is the practice of treating autistic adolescents and adults like young children.
To avoid real or imagined discrimination, some autistics will mask to overcompensate for any symptoms that manifest from their disability. They’ll do whatever it takes to keep their job–until they can no longer keep the mask from slipping.
Even with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, some employers still find loopholes to prevent autistic individuals from working, contributing to the autism unemployment rate even further.
How Can Companies Lower the Autism Unemployment Rate?
It's very simple: stop discriminating and start accommodating.
I understand it’s not always feasible or affordable to build designated quiet spots in every building or remove fluorescent lighting from the ceiling, but is allowing an employee to bring noise-cancelling headphones or sunglasses to work really too much to ask?
Employers may claim that it’s too costly to accommodate disabled employees when in reality, it costs less than $500, according to the Job Accommodation Network (JAN).
Another way employers can decrease the autism unemployment rate is by educating themselves by learning about autism, which includes listening to the stories of autistic people. Employers can then share their acquired knowledge to employees, fostering a neuro-affirming workspace.
In addition, there are so many programs, social networking websites, and services that are designed to aid adults with autism in job hunting. Most of these programs have a heavy emphasis on the trades, although there should be equal emphasis on jobs in healthcare, science, technology, law, communications, and the arts.
While life for autistic people is inarguably better than it was in previous decades, we still have a long way to go if we want them to live fulfilling lives. We can't expect them to be productive members of society if we keep narrowing the paths to employment.
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