Company estimation of the inte-gration of the severely disabled into working life : Results of an empirical study

Abstract

"The official figures of the unemployment statistics reveal the problematic situation on the labour market in black and white every time they are updated. Another development to be taken equally seriously stands out for a particular group in this army of unemployed people: unemployed severely disabled people. These people, too, are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain an adequate position. Besides their disability the loss of a job comes as an additional difficulty for them and is frequently the first step on the path to social isolation. Since the 1980s there has been a decline in the proportion of severely disabled people in the labour force as a whole in the Federal Republic of Germany - in spite of all the efforts made by labour administration and the main welfare institutions towards the integration of this group into the primary labour market. Against the background of this a project was introduced in Rheinland-Pfalz in 1994 which focuses on the (re)integration of severely disabled people into working life. In order to achieve this, those participating in the project pursue two different paths. Firstly in the companies, representatives of the disabled and works councils and secondly those responsible for personnel matters and/or personnel managers are contacted and are each offered special support services for the integration of severely disabled people. The effectiveness of these measures is additionally assessed by means of a scientific research parallel to this.What was of interest in the parallel research was first of all which area the integration efforts would affect. For this purpose a total of 4800 companies in four regions were asked to give an assessment of the integration. It is obvious that on the one hand the companies do not see anything in the existing qualifications which would constitute a serious obstacle to considering the recruitment of a disabled person. On the other hand it is clear that there is a considerable lack of information as to what support services and support opportunities are available for a company when opting to employ a disabled person." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Diery, H., Schubert, H. & Zink, K. (1997): Die Eingliederung von Schwerbehinderten in das Arbeitsleben aus der Sicht von Unternehmen. Ergebnisse einer empirischen Untersuchung. In: Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Vol. 30, No. 2, p. 442-454.