Gov. Mark Dayton has directed state agencies to hire more workers with disabilities.
The directive is needed, the governor’s office said, because of a dramatic drop in the percentage of state workers with disabilities:
“Over the last 15 years, there has been a steady decline in the proportion of Minnesotans with disabilities employed by the state – from 10.1 percent of the state’s workforce in 1999, to just 3.2 percent in 2013.”
The goal is to increase the percentage of state workers with disabilities to 7 percent of the workforce by August, 2018.
In his executive order (PDF), Dayton directs Minnesota Management and Budget and the State Director for Equal Opportunity to “design a model for recruitment and hiring strategies to increase employment of people with disabilities. These strategies will include required training programs for hiring managers and human resources personnel, and are to include clear benchmarks to ensure implementation of this order.”
The governor said each executive branch agency must develop a “plan for promoting employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. The plans are to include specific recruitment and training programs for employment.”
