Labour market policies, strategies and statistics for people with disabilities: A cross-national comparison

In addition to describing different countries labour market policies for people with disabilities, this study attempts to establish some initial benchmarks for comparing national policies in this respect for a number of OECD countries. The report systematically compares the countries in order to provide answers as to how they differ with respect to: (1) the target groups labour force participation and employment rate; (2) what labour market programmes are applied and to what degree; (3) to what extent the regular policy and institutional framework is used to integrate persons with disabilities into the labour market (the degree of mainstreaming). The study is based on a questionnaire to national government departments in all the OECD-countries in 1999. Of the 21 countries which are compared, Sweden, New Zealand, Germany and France have high labour market participation rates, while Spain, Ireland, Poland, Greece and Italy are all below average. Eleven countries provided sufficient information for a thorough cross-national comparison which among other things includes detailed descriptions of each countrys labour market programmes and statistics on the number of participants with disabilities and disability pension recipients. Despite similar labour force participation figures in Great Britain, Australia, Finland, Norway and Austria, the latter two countries have a substantially higher proportion of people in labour market programmes. Likewise, labour force participation in New Zealand is about the same as in Sweden, despite fewer participants in programmes. The proportion of participants with disabilities in various types of programmes specially targeted for people with disabilities and general programmes are compared. In Sweden, almost half the participants with disabilities in labour market programmes are employees with long-term wage subsidies. Almost half the participants in labour market programmes in Finland and Norway are undergoing training. Labour market training is also important in English-speaking countries and so are work experience programmes and, in principle, there are no long-term wage subsidies. Both the proportion of disability pension recipients and the proportion of programme participants are limited in Australia and the United Kingdom, while both proportions are substantial in Sweden and Ireland

Policies to Encourage the Employment of People with Disabilities: Case of Romania

In the last decades, the employment of persons with disabilities became a priority for the social policy from many countries. Usually, such policies are oriented in two directions: to support the persons with disabilities seeking jobs and to provide for the employers who hire these persons some facilities that compensate certain supplementary costs. In the last years, Romania updated its legislation regarding the persons with disabilities, being offered some stimulants for their employment. In this paper we examine this legislation by comparing it with those from other countries. We also present the results of an inquiry among some managers from Romanian enterprises, who were interviewed about hiring people with disabilities

Labour market policies, strategies and statistics for people with disabilities A cross-national approach

'The labour market situation for people with disabilities has been brought up-to-date in several OECD countries during the 1990s. This study provides an up-dated report from a rapidly changing policy field and presents a comparable review of labour market policies, strategies and statistics in 11 countries. The report also provides new knowledge about the labour force participation and employment rates for people with disabilities in 21 countries, and discusses possible explanations of the statistical differences, with the policy pursued as a point of departure. The study is based on responses to a questionaire distributed to central government departments in the 29 OECD countries.' (author's abstract)Auf der Grundlage einer Umfrage in den OECD-Staaten, die zwischen 1999 und 2001 stattfand, werden die Arbeitsmarktpolitik fuer Behinderte sowie ihre Erwerbsbeteiligung und Erwerbsquote verglichen. (IAB)German title: Arbeitsmarktpolitik, Strategien und Statistiken fuer Behinderte: ein internationaler AnsatzAvailable from IAB-96-500-22 BM 233,0 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman