A report by the Danish National Centre for Social Research on people with disabilities reveals that such persons are just as satisfied with their working conditions as people without a disability, although they have a lower sense of job security. The report summarises the results of an extensive study on people with disabilities, their working conditions and the possibilities of increasing the employment rate of persons with disabilities.
Context
High labour demand among companies in Denmark has created an opportunity to hire on the basis of greater social responsibility, with people who would normally be on social benefits because of a disability being employed. Against this background, and due to a lack of information on the subject, the National Labour Market Authority (Arbejdsmarkedsstyrelsen, AMS) commissioned a report on the possibilities for disabled people to be included in the labour market and to retain a job. The study analyses their attitudes towards working, compared with those of people without a disability. The Danish National Centre for Social Research (Det Nationale Forskningscenter for VelfA|rd, SFI) published the report, entitled Disabilities and employment in 2006 (in Danish, 1.6Mb PDF), in May 2008.
About the study
The research is based on 10-minute questionnaire-based screening interviews with 9,202 people between the age of 16 and 64 years, 8,797 of whom were randomly selected while the remaining 405 were chosen because of their working conditions and aeuro~flex jobaeuroTM. The latter is a form of job in Denmark which is state subsidised and is only carried out by people with disabilities. The net response rate among the randomly selected group amounted to 82% and the net response rate among the specifically chosen group stood at 76%. Furthermore, 2,235 of the 9,202 people participated in an in-depth 45-minute questionnaire-based interview, which enquired about their disability and the consequences of this disability in relation to work and private life. All of these respondents were either working in flex jobs, had a disability, were experiencing long-term problems with their health or had work-related health problems.
In the report, persons with disabilities are those who define themselves as either disabled, experiencing long-term health problems or having work-related health problems. Some 25% of the respondents were disabled and participated in the in-depth survey interview. In this group, 33% of the respondents had no measurable decreases in functional capacity with regard to the seven factors measured in the report: legs, arms, hands, eyesight, hearing, behaviour and intellect.
Study findings
Labour market participation
The results show that persons with a disability have a higher risk of unemployment if their self-assessed work ability is low (see table). Thus, 10% of those rating their work ability as very low were in employment, increasing to 85% for those who assessed their work ability as very good. Overall, 56.6% of the disabled respondents were in employment, compared with 79% of non-disabled persons.
Self-assessed work ability of disabled respondents (%)
| Self-assessed work ability* | Employment |
| 1aeuro"3 | 10% |
| 4aeuro"6 | 51% |
| 7aeuro"10 | 85% |
| All disabled | 56.6% |
| Not disabled | 79% |
Note: Respondents with a disability assessed their work ability on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 = very low ability and 10 = very good ability. The results are from the in-depth interviews, apart from the percentage of employment for persons who are not disabled, which is from the screening survey.
Source: SFI, 2008
Disabilities affecting leg function and behaviour in relation to interaction with other people significantly reduce the possibility of getting a job. The employment rate is also lower among people with visual disabilities. People with a lower hearing capacity have a higher chance of being employed than other disabled persons.
Job satisfaction
The study also examined peopleaeuroTMs job satisfaction, according to their self-assessed work ability. The following figure shows how the respondents rated their job satisfaction on a scale of one to 10, where one corresponds to very dissatisfied and 10 means very satisfied. The figure includes all persons with disabilities as well as those without a disability. It also highlights that the group of disabled persons with a low functional capacity records the widest gap in terms of job satisfaction compared with the group of people who are not disabled.
Despite the challenges that disabled people experience in the labour market, the results show that they are just as satisfied with their jobs as persons without a disability, with an average rating of 8.1. Moreover, they find their jobs just as demanding as other employees, with an average rating of 8.2. Their degree of influence in the job and possibilities for further training are also assessed at the same level as other employees, although their sickness absence is on average three times as high: 16 days compared with five days a year for non-disabled people. However, persons with a disability self-assess their job security as being at a lower level than other workers. Furthermore, those who are disabled believe that it would be harder to get another job if they were to leave the labour market.
Barriers to employment
People with a disability perceive physical obstacles as the biggest barrier to getting or retaining a job. In other words, the fact that disabled people more often have problems relating to their physical health or strength makes it more difficult for them to cope with the demands in the workplace. The disabled respondents identify both practical and organisational conditions that might improve their employment potential. Practical conditions include, for example, the arrangement of the workplace, while organisational parameters incorporate aspects such as working hours and the possibility of working alone. Overall, 31% of the disabled respondents mention that they require at least one practical adjustment to the workplace while 45% report having an organisational requirement. More specifically, 35% of these respondents note the possibility of rest periods and 38% mention reduced working hours.
The in-depth survey also assessed the barriers for entering the labour market. As mentioned above, higher sickness absence can be seen as a problem when hiring. Therefore, more information is necessary regarding the public policy of financing such absence if it is caused by a chronic disease.
Gender, age and education have an influence on whether a disabled person is employed. In this regard, women are less likely to be employed than men, and people with a lower education level are less likely to be hired than those with a higher education level. Furthermore, older disabled people have less chance of being hired than younger disabled workers.
Importance of flex jobs
The flex job is a solution to certain potential obstacles, helping to employ people with long-term reduced work ability. In these jobs, weekly working hours are shorter than normal and the salary is partly state subsidised. The SFI study assessed the usage of flex jobs in Denmark and found that this policy is put to good use. Those in flex jobs have almost the same functional capacity as the group of unemployed disabled persons. The study therefore concludes that flex job employees in many cases would have been unemployed if the flex job scheme had not existed.
Nicole Hansen and Helle OurA¸ Nielsen, Oxford Research
