The right to work is protected by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. EDF works on various levels to develop legislation in the field and to promote positive action in the labour market.
Across the EU, persons with disabilities are far less likely to be employed than persons without disabilities: according to the latest EU-level data, that persons with disabilities in the EU are 24.4 percentage points less likely to be employed than persons without disabilities. The situation is even worse for women with disabilities: on average only 48.3% of them are in employment. Among the most affected are persons with psychosocial disabilities and persons with intellectual disabilities.
The barriers to quality employment add to the problem of poverty and social exclusion faced by persons with disabilities. The latest EU-level figures from Eurostat suggest that 28.4% of all persons with disabilities in the EU live in poverty.
For the European Disability Forum, guaranteeing access to employment and occupation in the open labour market is a key issue, as it is a crucial aspect for the economic and social inclusion of 100 million persons with disabilities in Europe.
The General Comment explains the Committee’s interpretation of Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), with a particular attention to open labour market, discrimination at work or during recruitment, reasonable accommodation and working conditions.
This issue addresses how persons with disabilities in the EU experience poverty and social exclusion. In Chapter 6, it provides an overview of the employment situation for persons with disabilities in different countries and specific policy recommendations for the EU and Member States.
The report is also available in Easy to Read (see below)
Theme – The Right to Work: The employment situation of persons with disabilities in Europe
Publication year: 2023
Behind employment data, the reality of the quality of employment that persons with disabilities find is often obscured. While many persons with disabilities are denied work opportunities because of discrimination, countless others who manage to find work still face discrimination within the workplace.
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