Employment situation of people with disabilities examined

Albarracín, Daniel; Gil, Miguel Angel

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Employment situation of people with disabilities examined

Published: 29 March 2004

Daniel Albarracín,

Miguel Angel Gil

In 2003, the European Year of People with Disabilities, Spain's central trade union and employers' organisations agreed to promote the integration of disabled people in employment through collective bargaining. This article examines examines the current employment situation of people with disabilities, the relevant labour legislation and the recent activities of the social partners in this area.

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In 2003, the European Year of People with Disabilities, Spain's central trade union and employers' organisations agreed to promote the integration of disabled people in employment through collective bargaining. This article examines examines the current employment situation of people with disabilities, the relevant labour legislation and the recent activities of the social partners in this area.

2003 was designated by the European Union as the European Year of People with Disabilities (EU0209201N), and the EU is increasingly promoting equal opportunities for people with disabilities (EU0311205F). Furthermore, in January 2003 the central European social partner organisations presented an updated version of their 1999 joint declaration on the employment of disabled workers, as a contribution to the European Year, which aim to promote equal opportunities and access to employment for disabled people and identifies some key factors for success.

In this context, this article examines the current employment situation of people with disabilities in Spain - people with a certified disability (with an impairment of 33% or more) represent about 10% of the Spanish population - the relevant legislation and the recent activities of the social partners in this area.

Disability and employment

The main sources of data on the situation of the people with disabilities in Spain are two surveys published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE) the 'survey on disability, deficiency and states of health' (Encuesta sobre Discapacidad y Deficiencias y Estados de Salud, EDDS) dating from 1999, and the module on disability included in the survey of the active population (Encuesta de Población Activa, EPA) in 2002.

According to the EPA data, in 2002 the labour market participation rate of people with disabilities was only 33.7% and their employment rate was 28.5%. The unemployment rate of the active population of people with disabilities was 15.32%. For the whole Spanish population, in the last quarter of 2002 the labour market participation rate was 54.30%, the employment rate of the population over the age of 16 was 48.08%, and the unemployment rate was 11.45%. This indicates that people with disabilities have a far lower 'apparent availability' for employment (66.3% are inactive) than the general population, a very low employment rate, and a slightly higher unemployment rate (four percentage points above the Spanish average).

Men represent a higher proportion than women of people with disabilities of working age (though not in the total population). Men with disabilities also have a far higher employment rate and participation rate than women.

Among people with disabilities in employment, 62.51% are employed in the private sector and 14.05% are small entrepreneurs without employees - see table 1 below. Only 15.92% of people with disabilities in employment (who make up 30.17% of all people with disabilities) are employed in the public sector, around five percentage points below the rate for all people in employment, indicating that people with disabilities have less access to employment in the public sector.

**Table 1. People in employment with health problems or disabilities, by employment situation, 2002**
.	Total	Employers	Entrepreneurs without employees	Members of cooperatives	Family help	Public sector employees	Private sector employees	Other situations
No.	666,900	36,800	93,700	2,800	8,800	106,200	416,900	1,800
% of total	100.00	5.52	14.05	0.42	1.32	15.92	62.51	0.27

Source: EPA 2002

The rate of temporary employment among Spanish wage earners in general is 31.27%, compared with 31.37% for people with disabilities, and temporary employment rates are also similar for the two groups among all people in employment - see table 2 below. Experts also note that, particularly for disabled people, an open-ended employment contract is no guarantee of a good-quality job.

**Table 2. People in employment with and without health problems or disabilities, by type of employment contract, 2002**
.	Total	Non-employees	Employees on open-ended contracts	Employees on temporary contracts
All people in employment	16,008,200	3,063,400	8,896,700	4,048,100
% of total	100	19.14	55.58	25.29
People with some kind of health problem or disability	666,900	143,800	359,000	164,100
% of total	100	21.56	53.83	24.61
People with no health problem or disability	15,341,200	2,919,600	8,537,600	3,884,000
% of total	100	19.03	55.65	25.32

Source: EPA 2002

According to experts, the barriers to integration in employment for people with disabilities seem to lie in the following factors:

the limits to seeking employment imposed by their social and family environment or their family income structure;
the barriers, subjective prejudices and competitive requirements imposed by work and company life;
low expectations; and
the objective limitations of their disabilities.

Legal situation

With regard to labour law, the Workers' Statute (Estatuto de los Trabajadores) (RDL 1/1995) protects workers against discrimination due to physical, mental or sensory disability in access to employment and at work (ES0308102T). Otherwise, the main reference is Law 13/1982 on the Social Integration of the Disabled (Ley de Integración Social de los Minusválidos, LISMI), which provides social and labour protection aimed at the integration of people with disabilities (TN0102201S). It establishes a quota of 2% for the recruitment of disabled people in companies with more than 50 workers, and subsidies for permanent and full-time contracts or reductions in the social security contributions in respect of such workers. Since an amendment of the law in 2000, as an alternative to the quota, employers may spend an equivalent amount of money on alternative measures through 'special employment centres' (Centros Especiales de Empleo, CEEs) - see below - by purchasing products and services or giving donations. Public sector employment competitions must reserve 3% of posts for people with disabilities, though this does not tend to be fulfilled.

'Special employment centres' were introduced by Royal Decree 427/1999 to promote the integration of disabled people in adapted workplaces, with special employment relations rules (ES0201206F). These organisations must offer a suitable and accessible labour environment providing support and accompaniment for workers with disabilities, though the pay and social security contributions are low. At least 70% of the centres' employees must be disabled. CEEs should orient workers towards transition to the ordinary labour market, though it is widely recognised that they are not very effective in achieving this. They have also been accused of being places for 'dumping' disabled workers.

In December 2003, the government established that people with disabilities involving an impairment of 65% or more may take early retirement with an increased 'coefficient' of 0.25% per year of pension contribution, rising to 0.50% if they require the help of another person in their daily life. For example, 20 years of pension contributions will count as 25 for this group.

Social partner activities

In January 2003, the main employers' organisations - the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organisations (Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales, CEOE) and the Confederation of Employers of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (Confederación Española de la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa, CEPYME) - and the most representative trade union confederations - the Trade Union Confederation of Workers' Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CC.OO) and the General Workers' Confederation (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT) - signed an 'interconfederal agreement for collective bargaining' in 2003 (Acuerdo Interconfederal para la Negociación Colectiva, ANC 2003) (ES0302204F). The accord laid down guidelines and criteria for lower-level collective bargaining in 2003. It includes a section supporting the objectives of the European social partners' joint declaration on the employment of disabled workers (see above), and stating the aim of contributing to the promotion of the integration of this group in employment through collective bargaining.

CEOE, CEPYME, CC.OO and UGT made a joint declaration on the International Day of Disabled Persons in December 2003, asking employers' organisations and trade unions to take action in their respective areas and through collective bargaining to foster the integration of people with disabilities in employment.

However, to date the question of disability has received little attention in sectoral and/or regional agreements, and collective bargaining has failed to develop specific agreements for the CEEs and similar centres (such agreements exist only in Catalonia and Valencia).

Commentary

The employment situation of people with disabilities varies greatly. People with mental disabilities and certain types of physical disabilities encounter great difficulties in finding employment. With the exception of a few measures introduced in 2003 (ES0303101N), these people have been seriously neglected. The special employment centres are so far inoperative or ineffective, people with disabilities enjoy little social protection, and companies are not very sensitive or adapted to their skills and needs. In the authors' view, the large amount of legislation is not backed by sufficient funding to protect people with disabilities, and in particular those who wish to work in a company. This is due to prejudice in recruitment, worse labour conditions, physical barriers to mobility and access, and difficulties of promotion and participation in companies. (Daniel Albarracín and Miguel Angel Gil, CIREM Foundation)

Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.

Eurofound (2004), Employment situation of people with disabilities examined, article.