Advancing the participation of people with disabilities in the labour market: INTERNATIONAL PRACTICES AND LESSONS

1. Advancing the participation of people with disabilities in the labour market: INTERNATIONAL PRACTICES AND LESSONS Presentation to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada Knowledge Talk 12 January, 2012 Michael J. Prince University of Victoria

2. Our focus today • What policies act as barriers to the labour market participation of people with disabilities? • What policies act as facilitators of labour market integration for people with disabilities? • What lessons can be drawn from promising employment practices at the international level?

3. International sample Anglo-liberal states Scandinavian-European states Denmark Finland Netherlands Norway Sweden • Australia • Ireland • New Zealand • United Kingdom • United States of America

4. Sources • Prince (2006) International Best Practices In Service Delivery For People With Disabilities: Lessons from other countries and options for Service Canada • Prince (2007) Labour Market Participation of Canadians with Disabilities:Trends, Barriers, Facilitators, Policy Lessons and Options for Positive Outcomes • Prince (2010) New Strategic Directions for Active Employment Measures for Persons with Disabilities: A Literature Review and Policy Research Agenda • OECD (2010) Sickness, Disability and Work: Breaking the Barriers • Prince (2011) Gaining, Maintaining And Returning To Employment:A Synthesis Report On Challenges And Successes Of People With Disabilities In Canada • World Health Organization (2011) World Report on Disability

5. Active labour market programs Active labour market programming: • public employment services and administration • training and special support for apprenticeship • job rotation and job sharing measures • employment incentives for recruitment and job maintenance • supported employment and rehabilitation • direct job creation • start-incentives for self-employment and micro-finance for businesses Related measures: laws and regulations, income benefit systems, social marketing campaigns

6. International trends • The employment rate for disabled persons in most industrial countries falls within a range of between 30% to 50% • Employment rates of people with disability from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s declined in eight countries; remained steady in another eight countries; and increased in seven countries • Canada realized a moderate increase in the average annual growth on the employment rate of people with a disability as did Finland and the Netherlands, with relatively stronger growth rates in Ireland, Mexico, Spain and the UK • People with disabilities are more likely than people without disability to be in short-term and part-time employment, self-employment, and in the “informal economy”

7. Disability-related activation measures: policy types and target groups

8. Promising practices Encouraging practices internationally are evident in four policy approaches: • Reforming assessment procedures to focus on the capacities of people and their ability to work • Changing benefit structures in order to improve work incentives, such as by offering financial incentives to employers and or to the employees with partially-reduced work capacities • Expanding rehabilitation and employment services to support job searches • Transitioning from sheltered work to supported employment and/or social enterprises

9. Barriers: a striking degree of continuity • In policy and service delivery systems: • the resolve of medical assessment models • traditional social service approach by many community supports, e.g., segregated day programming • the continuance of sheltered workshops and other separated work settings • In employment activation measures: • the absence of personal supports to enable access • limited supply of services • access to employment services may be restricted to certain groups, such as new claimants versus existing clients

10. Facilitators • Access to education and training, and funding • Informed conceptions about the abilities and productive capacity of people with disability • Social networks of friends, confidantes and companions • Personalized employment counselling • Work-focused interviews • Early vocational rehabilitation measures • Financial incentives to assist people with disabilities with living expenses associated with their impairments • Employers forums on disability, financed and operated by employer groups

11. Facilitators • Employment services and supports: • Dedicated and committed staff offering services to clients • Tailor-made job search activities and training specifically designed to promote each client’s abilities and strengths • Adjusting the pace at which people move towards sustained employment according to their own employability and circumstances • Recognizing and responding to the differing needs of people with disabilities • Information and advice, including implications for income benefits and services • Accompanying clients to job interviews • Job matching geared to local labour markets

12. Facilitators • Employer supports and services • Detailed job specifications from employers • Advice and information about assistive technologies, specialized training, supported employment, and reasonable accommodation • Disability management, sickness absence monitoring and return to work plans • Ongoing practical and emotional support for both clients and employers to help with any problems which may arise, such as through peer support and mentoring • Active involvement and support from partner agencies

13. Responsibilities of employers • Employment protection lawsat times include exemptions for small or medium sized establishments, and exclude nonstandard forms of employment such as casual and temporary or part-time labour, all relatively important segments of work opportunities for people with disabilities • Mandatory employment quotas on employers to hire a certain number of people with disabilities are not a widespread policy approach • Evidence on employment effects of anti-discrimination legislation on people with disability is inconclusive (OECD 2007: 164)

14. Financial incentives for employers • The most common policy tool across OECD nations • Tax reductions of social security premiums (premium discounts), business loans, and direct grants for workplace modifications that enable the hiring and retention of persons with disabilities • Wage subsidies may help people with disability to increase their human capital, obtain work experience and skills which can be transferable to non-subsidized jobs • The take-up rate for such programs is often low • The impact of subsidized employment schemes is “ambiguous” for hiring people with disabilities versus retaining workers

15. Collaborative relationships • Employer forums can be effective vehicles, often at regional or sectoral levels, for input by non-governmental actors into active employment measures decision-making: • bringing together leading employers and employer groups • raising the public profile of the issue of employment of people with disability • providing a linkage between employers and government officials • linking people with disabilities with employers • generating inclusive workplace policies and practices

16. Opportunities for innovation • Working together to shift attitudes about people with disability and work • Funding to help start small businesses by people with disabilities and build capacity of social enterprises • Strengthening incentives and supports for employers • Assisting employment service providers to transition from segregated to open labour market approaches • Enhancing supported employment and more inclusive workplaces

17. Thank you Michael J. Prince Lansdowne Professor of Social Policy Faculty of Human and Social Development University of Victoria mprince@uvic.ca Disabling Poverty and Enabling Citizenship CURA http://www.ccdonline.ca/en/socialpolicy/poverty-citizenship