Today, on International Workers’ Day and ahead of the European Elections in June, the European Disability Forum calls on the European Union to establish a European Disability Employment and Skills Guarantee that promotes quality employment of persons with disabilities.
Our 2023 Human Rights report on the Right to Work shows that only 51.3% of persons with disabilities in the European Union are employed, compared to 75.6% of persons without disabilities. The figures are even worse for women with disabilities and young people with disabilities. Persons with cognitive and intellectual disabilities are particularly affected by even higher rates of unemployment and underpaid work.
The European Union has a responsibility to act, and the next mandate must significantly improve these disappointing numbers. In line with International Worker’s Day, we are calling for access to just and quality employment for persons with disabilities in the open labour market. Employment that is decently paid and affords equal social protections for other workers.
We call for the European Institutions to establish the “European Disability Employment and Skills Guarantee” to ensure this. This Guarantee must provide EU funding and support to ensure that persons with disabilities have equal access to mainstream education, training and employment opportunities. Budget from the European Social Fund must be ringfenced to ensure a successful implementation of this Guarantee and to support all persons with disabilities, employers or training and educational centres that take part in it.
In order to meet the needs of persons with disabilities, the Disability Employment and Skills Guarantee could be modelled after the successful Youth Guarantee but with some considerable differences. Notably:
- It should be open to people who are receiving disability allowance and allow them to retain this allowance when in work, training or education.
- It should not have any age restriction.
- A strand should be allocated to assist in providing reasonable accommodations for the person at work, through both technical and financial support.
- The Guarantee should emphasise employment in the open labour market. It should exclude sheltered workshops exclusively for persons with disabilities where workers do not have the legal status of employee and are not paid in line with minimum wage requirements.
At a time when discussions are already taking place about the distribution of EU funding in the next Multiannual Financial Framework, we strongly urge the EU and the Member States to the budget going towards the European Social Fund to ensure that the inclusion of new social initiatives does not dilute spending elsewhere.