Disabled in the State to Increase, as will Mobile Homes and State’s Dependence on Working Mothers

Unless things get better in a hurry, the number of disabled people in Alabama is going to increase next year and in the foreseeable future, says Annette Jones Watters, manager of the Alabama State Data Center and assistant director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at The University of Alabama.

“Right now, Alabama has a bigger proportion of people with disabilities than the national average,” Watters says. “At every age group-children, seniors, and people in between-Alabama’s disabled population is relatively greater than the national average. The roots of these disabilities lie in poverty, lack of access to health care, and lack of health education. These factors aren’t disappearing in Alabama, and the high incidences of disability won’t disappear either.”

And a lot of those people live in mobile homes, which are not mobile at all but are permanent dwellings. Permanent mobile homes will no doubt continue to grow in popularity among Alabamians.

“Alabamians are more than twice as likely to live in a mobile home than the national average,” according to Watters. “Fifteen percent of Alabama families live in a mobile home. The national average is seven percent. Mobile homes are an inexpensive form of housing, but they have associated issues of durability and safety. Alabamians are not going to quit living in mobile homes; storms are not going to quit coming through our state. Residents, mobile home manufacturers, and governmental leaders must come to some agreements to keep the citizenry warm, dry, and safe. Mobile homes are a permanent and increasing part of our state’s landscape.”

And Watters says you also can expect the state’s economy to continue to depend on working mothers. “Fifty-five percent of all the females in Alabama over the age of 16 are in the labor force,” she notes. “Sixty-one percent of children under the age of six have all the parents in their family participating in the labor force. Children ages six to 16 are even more likely to have a working mom. Sixty-six percent of school-aged children have all their parents in the labor force. If all the mothers of minor children in Alabama left the labor force to be stay-at-home, full-time mothers, Alabama’s economy would scream, shrivel, and shrink.”

Annette Watters can be reached at 205/348-6191(office) or awatters@cba.ua.edu.