Just one in three with disability employed - OECD

Only one out of three people with a disability in Ireland is in employment and those with disabilities are more likely to experience high rates of poverty, according to an OECD report published today.

The study, which analyses sickness and disability policies in Ireland, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands, recommends that the State training agency Fás should be turned into a "one-stop shop" for employment programmes for people with disability. It also calls on the Government to streamline its benefit system.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report indicates that the employment rate for people with disabilities in Ireland is one of the lowest across the OECD and has changed little over the past decade, despite the rise in employment levels.

According to the study, the share of working-age people receiving long-term sickness and disability payments moved from below OECD average in the 1990s to above average in 2007 and now stands at 6.3 per cent of the labour force.

The report also reveals that people with disability also face a very high poverty risk with one out of four living on less than half the median income, more than double the share of people without a disability.

The OECD notes that a number of initiatives have been launched to help people on sickness and disability benefit. These include setting a target to increase the employment rate of people with disability to 45 per cent by 2016.

While the organisation said it believed the proposed plans have a lot of potential it recommends that FÁS should be the only focal point for training and active labour market policy. It also calls for responsibility for all long-term health and disability benefits to be transferred to the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

“Currently, employment services are detached from the benefit application process, and the take-up of services is on a voluntary basis and, consequently, very low. Despite a commitment to ‘mainstream’ employment services, most services offered to people with disability are specialist services which often lack proper monitoring,” said the report.

Launching the Sickness, Disability and Work: Breaking the Barriersreport this morning, Minister for Labour Affairs Billy Kelleher said that €77.7 million in the Fás budget for 2009 has been set aside for specific employment and training programmes for people with disabilities. In addition, people with disabilities can avail of the FAS Community Employment programme.

“While there have been substantial developments, we recognise that there is a long way to go before we can say that people with disabilities have every possible opportunity to participate on an equal footing in Ireland’s social and economic life,” said Mr Kelleher.

“We know that people with disabilities are among those most at risk of poverty in Ireland and, notwithstanding the very difficult economic conditions which we now face, we remain fully committed to addressing this,” he added.

In its report, the OECD warns that Ireland is facing a rapid increase in the use of long-term sickness and disability schemes, especially for people over 50. However, it advises against using such schemes to cushion job losses, noting that the majority of people who are put on disability benefits never work again.

It also claims that strong work disincentives for people on disability benefits arise from the loss of secondary benefits upon moving into work, especially the potential loss of medical cards.