A majority of disabled people are excluded from quality employment, warns a report by the European Disability Forum (EDF) published on Thursday 27 April. Indeed, only 51.3% of people with disabilities and of working age are in paid employment. This rate falls to 49% for women and 47.4% for young people.
“Employment gap”
While the “employment gap” between disabled and non-disabled people is 24.4% in the EU, it goes up to almost 40% in countries such as Ireland or Belgium and does not go below 18% (Portugal).
The reasons for this gap, the report points out, include a lack of access to education, discrimination and a lack of reasonable accommodation. The latter is at the heart of the disagreements in the EU Council on the ‘anti-discrimination’ directive (see EUROPE 13165/6, 13071/17) and is not covered by the guidelines in the directive on employment equality (see EUROPE 13065/22).
Payment
The report also reveals that disabled people earn less when they are employed because of the loss of their disability benefits. However, “the cost of living for persons with disabilities remain much higher than for persons without disabilities” because of the adaptations required (housing, transport, etc.), EDF points out. It estimates that 47% of those affected are unable to pay their bills.
The association therefore calls on the EU and its Member States to allow people with disabilities to keep their benefits when in paid employment.
Sheltered employment
Finally, EDF condemns sheltered employment models, i.e. “undertakings that generally employ a majority of persons with disabilities in closed settings”. Not only are workers deprived of career opportunities, but they also suffer from poor working conditions and low wages.
They argue that the EU should promote employment models that facilitate the transition to an open labour market, while promoting effective practices for accessing reasonable accommodation and prohibiting pay below the legal minimum.
The report: https://aeur.eu/f/6l6 (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)