Article from our Special Issue The Parisian Economy : Disability at work, initiatives to follow.
There are fewer and fewer disabled job seekers. For them, as for the working population as a whole, the unemployment rate fell: -0.6% in one year. As of December 31, there were 474,171. A decline which continued in the first quarter of 2022: 467,530 people with disabilities were at Pôle emploi as of March 31. But this regular decrease hides, in reality, a nuanced situation.
First, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities remains double that of the general population. Then, the number of those who are subject to long-term unemployment continues to increase: + 5% in 2021, to concern 3 out of 5 jobseekers (compared to 1 out of 2 for all public ). Therefore, on the front of the employment of disabled workers, some figures are undeniably improving. But the hiring rate in the private sector is capped at 3.5% in full-time equivalents. Far from the mandatory 6% quota. Significant margins for progress therefore remain. Especially if, as announced by the now re-elected President of the Republic during the electoral campaign, the target is full employment. What seems to confirm the title of the new minister in charge of the subject, Olivier Dussopt who inherits the portfolio of Labour, Full Employment and Integration. The theme has already been chosen as the red thread for the next European Disability Employment Week, which will be held from 14 to 20 November.
Among the tools widely mobilized in recent years to contribute to this: learning. The number of people with disabilities working on a work-study program almost doubled between 2019 and 2021, going from 4,562 to 8,159. And this is reflected in the number of recruitments, up 20% in 2021.
An employment and disability barometer
Still quite marginal in terms of the number of people concerned (approximately 5,000 registered on dedicated departmental platforms), supported employment continues to develop. It supports companies wishing to integrate employees with mental or neurodevelopmental disorders. An external job coach can intervene, in connection with the employment operators, to provide both professional and medico-psychological support, and thus limit the risk of failure of integration into a team.
Finally, set up by the Castex government in March 2022, an “employment and disability” barometer aims to allow employers to compare themselves to counterparts, to value their actions, to measure their progress… At the end of May, less than a hundred are seduced to the point of completing the questionnaire offered on the “Les entreprises s’engage” website.
One-off and short-term aid (recovery plan hiring bonuses, apprenticeship support measures, etc.) has improved the employment of disabled people. What will happen if they are suspended? Will the unemployment rate continue to decline? The answer could depend on structural reforms to come during the new five-year term. The question, for example, of the sustainability of funding for Agefiph (an association that subsidizes post equipment or job retention in the private sector) and its counterpart in the public sector, FIPH, remains unanswered. Because if the rate of recruitment increases, the contributions of the employers to the budget of these organizations fall; and their receipts decrease mechanically.