Employment of people with sight loss in 2022

RNIB works hard to tackle inequality faced by people with sight loss in a range of areas. One area in which inequality has been frequently evidenced is employment. This report covers a range of relevant statistics including employment and unemployment rates, those searching for work, attitudes toward working in the future and claims for unemployment benefits.

Key findings

• Those with difficulty seeing are less likely to be employed than other groups.
• The employment rate has been falling for this group since 2018, despite the rate improving for other groups.
• People with difficulty seeing are more likely than other groups to say that they definitely or probably wouldn’t work in the future.
• Those aged 55 to 64 with difficulty seeing are least likely to be in employment. Although people with difficulty seeing less likely to be in employment across all ages.
• Nature of work: Those with difficulty seeing who are employed tend to be in permanent work and have a good chance of having long term employment.
• People with difficulty seeing work in a variety of industries, sectors and job roles much like other groups.