Global Trends for Workers with Disabilities

By Susan Fernandez, Human Resource Institute (HRI)

Population aging and looming labor shortages make people with disabilities a resource that many countries can't afford to ignore. A 2003 study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that one in seven people in its member countries has a long-term health problem limiting the activities of daily living. As populations age, this share will increase. For example, a Canadian study predicts that in 10 years, as the median age there rises, 20-25% of that nation's population will have some sort of disability.

The International Labour Organization estimates there are 610 million people with disabilities worldwide, 386 million of working age. About 80% live in developing nations. Unemployment is significantly higher among people with disabilities than in the workforce as a whole; unemployment rates range from twice as high to 80% higher than average in some countries.

Currently, in OECD countries, employment rates of the disabled population range from 60% in Norway and Switzerland to 20% in Poland and Spain. That compares with a 70% employment rate for working-age people who aren't disabled. In Canada, the employment rate for disabled individuals is 30 percentage points lower than that of other workers. In South Korea, the unemployment rate for handicapped people is about 30%, five or six times higher than the general workforce's.

Worldwide, progress in employing people with disabilities has been inconsistent. What's more, reliable comparative data is difficult to find since definitions differ and collection methods vary among nations that keep records. But many countries are at least striving to bring people with disabilities into the labor force. Western European nations have until 2006 to ratify an equal treatment directive that requires member nations to draft legislation that will address discrimination on the grounds of disability.

In South Korea, the Ministry of Labor is increasing the requirements for companies to hire disabled people. Currently, companies with 300 or more employees must fill at least 2% of their positions with handicapped people. Those that fail to meet the standard are subject to monthly penalties of 392,000 won ($326) per position each month.

More global initiatives are on the horizon. The United Nations has proposed a treaty that will attempt to set worldwide definitions and standards for implementing disability reform. It will be submitted to member nations in late 2005.

Disabled Workers in the U.S.
In an unexpected and alarming trend for U.S. employers and government policymakers, disability rates for adults in their prime working years have risen sharply in the past two decades, a 2004 RAND Corp. study shows. The number of people 30-49 years old who cannot care for themselves or perform other routine tasks jumped more than 50% from 1984 to 2000, and smaller but significant rises also occurred among those aged 18-29 and 50-59.

The numbers remain relatively small - about 2% disabled in the 30-49 age group - but the size of the jump foreshadows potentially huge issues for employers wrestling with productivity and healthcare costs. Another study found that, for the first time ever, hospital and healthcare expenditures are rising faster for people in the Baby Boomers' age group than for the elderly. Increasing disability rates were expected as the Baby Boomers aged, but they are occurring sooner and in larger numbers than forecast.

Overall, about a fifth of Americans over the age of five have a disability, and the majority of these people are of working age. In 2004, 35% of working-age people with disabilities were employed either full time or part time, according to a National Organization on Disability/Harris poll. That was up 3% from a similar 2000 poll. Of those who said that they're disabled but not working, nearly two-thirds said they'd like to work. Of those, 8% said they're not working because they can't find a job that accommodates their disability.

Disabled Populations in Other Nations

• European Union: people with disabilities represent about 10% of the total population. This amounts to about 37 million people. In most member nations, people ages 65 and over constitute between 35% and 45% of the disabled population (Center for International Rehabilitation, 2003).
• People's Republic of China: about 5% of the population suffer a disability, amounting to about 60 million disabled people. China reports that 75% of people with disabilities are working (Center for International Rehabilitation, 2003).
• Russia: about 11 million disabled persons. A considerable portion, 270,000, were disabled as a result of armed conflicts (Center for International Rehabilitation, 2003).
• Brazil: 14.5% of its population (24.5 million people) reported some degree of disability. In the census of 2000, Brazilian law defines disability as "any loss or abnormality of a psychological, physiological or anatomic function or structure resulting in a lack of ability to perform an activity within the range considered normal for the human being" (Center for International Rehabilitation, 2004).

The Labor Pool of People with Disabilities May Become Even More Important

• Because of a projected shortfall of five million workers in 2010, workers with disabilities might become an even more important part of the workforce in coming years. There will be only 17 million workers available in 2010 to fill some 22 million new jobs. As employers seek new workers, they may well turn to people who have some disabilities but who are well able to perform various service and information jobs (Frierson, 2004).

Savvy Strategies for Including People with Disabilities

• To hire skilled workers with disabilities, companies must target them with particular strategies, as they do with other minority populations. They need to understand the legal requirements for hiring and accommodating them and determine what accommodations to provide (Kurlander & Kurlander, 2004).
• IBM has become something of a model for employing people with disabilities. The organization has found that it can profit from the talents and skills of this worker pool. The company sends recruiters into high schools and colleges to tell students about careers in technology. In 1999 it launched Project Able, which assigns volunteer advocates to students with disabilities and helps streamline the application process for them. IBM also teaches its managers how to interview people with disabilities and how to ask tough questions of applicants. It has also developed several strategies for accommodating workers with disabilities after they are hired (Mullich, 2004).
• Prudential Insurance hired a worker born with autism to be a systems analyst. Although many companies shy away from people with this particular disability because of the erratic behavior they often display, Prudential assigned him a job coach who helped with orientation, worked out a schedule with him, and advised him on social issues (Frierson, 2004).
• Wells Fargo employs several deaf and hard-of-hearing workers at one of its large offices in Colorado. To help integrate them into the general workforce, the company offers sign language classes to all employees during lunch. The classes allow hearing workers to learn to communicate directly with their deaf co-workers (Kurlander & Kurlander, 2004).

HRI is a not-for-profit, academic-based research institute whose mission is to research, develop and disseminate information and insights on the trends and strategic issues impacting the management of people in organizations today and in the future. For more information, visit www.HRInstitute.org

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