Projects

Disabled people, employment and skills evaluation

Summary

Recent evidence from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) suggests that disabled people are still at a marked disadvantage in the labour market, having a higher probability of not being in work at all, or of having less stable, lower paid jobs. Overall, despite the Disability Discrimination Act and several government initiatives, such as New Deal for Disabled People and Pathways to Work, evaluations have identified relatively modest improvements in the labour market outcomes of disabled people. In the field of education and training, links between and disability and lower rates of educational attainment, including vocational qualifications, have been clearly documented.

This brief research project will assess the current picture across England, Scotland and Wales regarding disability, employment and skills, using three methods:

presentation of current statistics, including those drawn from the analysis of disability and education; training and employment outcomes undertaken for the National Equality Panel, using the Labour Force Survey; statistics on education and training from the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Department for Children Schools and Families and the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services
a literature search on recent policy and initiatives relating to employment, skills and training of disabled people in England, Scotland and Wales
a series of telephone interviews with 12 key informants working in the field, to highlight their current concerns

Disability, Skills and Employment: A review of recent statistics and literature on policy and initiatives (PDF)

Funder

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Project team

Sheila Riddell, Linda Ahlgren, Sheila Edward, Elisabet Weedon

Start date

5 January 2010

End date

31 March 2010

This article was published on Jan 17, 2012