Digital Skills, Accommodation and Technological Assistance for Employment: Supporting the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the open labour market
10.07.2024
Andre Felix
Executive Summary
EU-level data consistently shows just how much less likely persons with disabilities are to be employed than their non-disabled peers. The latest figures show that the employment gap, the difference in employment rates between persons with and without disabilities, remains stable at around 24 percentage points, with even higher gaps for women and young persons with disabilities.
This report explores how the lack of awareness, provision of assistive technology, reasonable accommodation and development of digital skills contribute to this stark gap.
It shows that, despite the established legal frameworks on reasonable accommodation, in reality they are poorly put into practice. Among the key barriers persons with disabilities face are the lack of awareness by employers about how to offer reasonable accommodation, financial constraints, insufficient support by public authorities and societal attitudes.
Results highlight that persons with disabilities face severe challenges as early as the recruitment stage. In fact, employers state that, if they have them, internal HR guidelines on hiring persons with disabilities tend to [...]