Our Impact

“They just don’t have energy to keep fighting,” says Debora Wagner, work incentives associate at the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, about people with mental health disabilities whose application for disability benefits is denied by the Social Security Administration.

“This kind of work … satisfies not only the needs of job seekers who are autistic, but really helps the economy,” said Susanne Bruyère, academic director of the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, when commenting on a federal cut to a study on employment barriers for autistic job seekers.

Now in its fifth year, the 2024-25 New York at Work report draws on ILR expertise, research-based data and policy analysis on a broad range of key issues affecting the state’s workers, unions, communities and employers.