Employment and People with Disabilities in India Setting the Context

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Employment and People with Disabilities in India
Setting the Context

• Philip OKeefe
• World Bank
• August 2008, Bangalore

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Low employment rates of PWD are a common
international phenomenon
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For India, PWD employment rates are much lower
than the general population and fell in 1990s
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The fall relative to general population was in
nearly all states but more sharply in some
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Employment rates vary sharply by type of
disability
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PWD employment rates are lower than the general
population at all educational levels
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Caring demands also reduce the work time of other
adults in HH
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Once working, PWD work around the same amount as
others
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What does Indian and international evidence
suggest is needed and possible ?

• Attitudes first and foremost, of employers,
  families, and PWD themselves
• Explore how UN Convention commitments can best be
  met
• Prohibit discrimination on the basis of
  disability with regard to all matters concerning
  all forms of employment, including conditions of
  recruitment, hiring and employment, continuance
  of employment, career advancement and safe and
  healthy working conditions
• Protect the rights of persons with disabilities,
  on an equal basis with others, to just and
  favourable conditions of work, including equal
  opportunities and equal remuneration for work of
  equal value, safe and healthy working conditions,
  including protection from harassment, and the
  redress of grievances

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What does Indian and international evidence
suggest is needed and possible ?

• Think about more diverse set of incentives for
  employers to meet Convention obligations
• Promote the employment of PWD in the private
  sector through appropriate policies and measures,
  which may include affirmative action programmes,
  incentives and other measures.
• ..ensure that reasonable accommodation is
  provided to persons with disabilities in the
  workplace.

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What does Indian and international evidence
suggest is needed and possible ?

• Internationally, quotas for employment of PWD
  have not been terribly effective, even in rich
  countries.
• in most countries, the tide is swinging away
  from quotas either for their total abandonment
  (as in the UK), or for other measures (active
  employment support for individuals or stronger
  discrimination laws).
• The main variant of the straight quota system is
  the so-called quota-levy system, whereby
  employers can pay a contribution to an earmarked
  fund in lieu of employing PWD up to their quota
  obligation.

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What does Indian and international evidence
suggest is needed and possible ?

• OECD trend towards anti-discrimination/equal
  opportunities legislation PLUS range of public
  and private sector initiatives to make it a
  reality
• Example of the UK Combines general AD
  legislation with specific PWD discrimination
  legislation and strong emphasis on codes of
  conduct

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What does Indian and international evidence
suggest is needed and possible ?

• UK Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (amended
  2005) allows for positive duty of the State to
  promote inclusion of PWD and positive
  discrimination in employment, in particular,
  employers a duty to make reasonable
  adjustments to make sure PWD not put at a
  substantial disadvantage by employment
  arrangements or any physical feature of the
  workplace.
• allocating some of your work to someone else
• transferring to another post or another place of
  work
• making adjustments to the buildings
• being flexible about work hours - allowing you to
  have different core working hours and to be away
  from the office for assessment, treatment or
  rehabilitation
• providing training
• providing modified equipment
• making instructions and manuals more accessible
• providing a reader or interpreter

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What does Indian and international evidence
suggest is needed and possible ?

• Many exciting initiatives in India also with
  strong private sector and NGO involvement
• 3 major channels (though nearly all org. sector
  to date)
• Government remains critical e.g. social
  insurance exemptions. What is a reasonable and
  enforceable set of incentives for employers ? How
  to overhaul existing models like NHFDC ?
• Civil society/DPOs Matching PWD skills and
  employer demand (macro and micro), e.g. skill
  mapping Partner for Change job melas - ADAPT
  EmployAbility Chennai.
• Make it commercial - for corporates, moving from
  only CSR to hard business decisions in hiring,
  with support of commercial HR sector (e.g.
  Anubhuti). Moving from points of light to
  standard practice.

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BUT.

• The rural and unorganized economy remains largely
  outside the emerging channels. What models for
  that ? Examples but more is needed to understand
  what can work
• AP IKP PWD SHGs
• CBR which builds on attitudinal change