Improving employment opportunities for people with disability

The right to work is a core human right, however many Australians with disability face barriers when looking for or maintaining a job. The results of the 2015 Survey of Disability Ageing and Carers (SDAC) were recently released, highlighting a stark contrast between the employment opportunities of people with disability and those without.

The survey found that only 27% of people with disability are employed full time, compared to 53.8% of those without disability. The rate of people with severe or profound disability taking part on the workforce has decreased by 4.7% since the last SDAC survey in 2012 and, unsurprisingly, Australians with disability are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as people without disability.

Earlier this year the Australian Human Rights Commission looked into the ways that people with Disability experience discrimination in relation to employment.

The Willing to Work Report found that people with disability:

• have trouble accessing buildings and information
• are excluded
• are unsure whether they should tell their employer that they have a disability
• face barriers when needing changes made to help them in their job or workplace
• don’t get the same opportunities to grow in their jobs as people without disability.

Likewise, many employers aren’t giving jobs to people with disability because they:

• don’t know how to make their workplace inclusive
• can’t keep up with the relevant laws around disability and discrimination
• aren’t aware that they can get help from the government.

There are also negative community and workforce attitudes about whether people with disability can do a good job or whether they pose a risk when it comes to health and safety.  

Last month, the Australian Government launched a discussion paper that suggests changes to Disability Employment Services (DES). DES is a program that helps people with disability to find a job. The current contracts with non-government organisations who provide DES end in 2018, providing the perfect opportunity to reassess how the program operates.

Each year around 93,000 people in Australia use DES, with nearly 50,000 of those getting a job placement. However, not all these people are keeping their job and this needs to be improved.

The recently released paper looks at ways DES can be improved to achieve better employment outcomes for people with disability, including:

• making it easier to change DES providers
• creating more competition between DES providers
• changing the way DES providers get paid
• encouraging employers to give jobs to people with disability
• more information and better job plans
• making it easier for DES providers to help people.

The consultation period for the paper closes on December 16 2016 and will be supported by the newly established Disability Employment Services Reference Group. The group includes representatives from peak bodies that represent the interests of people with disability, employers and DES providers. They will share their ideas and views and discuss the proposed changes to the DES model.

The reference group members include:

• People With Disability
• National Ethnic Disability Alliance
• First Peoples Disability Network
• Inclusion Australia
• Disability Employment Australia
• National Disability Services
• Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Jobs Australia
• National Employment Services Australia
• Australian Network on Disability
• Jobsupport
• Campbell Page
• Advanced Personnel Management.

The DES discussion paper and reference group are just one small part of the many things that can be done to improve access to employment for Australians with disability. The Willing to Work Report contains a number of recommendations of how we can do better. Considering we rank number 21 out of 29 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries when it comes to disability employment, we certainly have room for improvement.

An Easy Read version of the DES Discussion Paper is available here (PDF).

An Easy Read version of the Willing to Work Report is available here (PDF).