European Commission’s disability employment package

The Employment Package is one of the seven initiatives announced in the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 and will help in the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights. It aims to provide guidance and support in six areas of action that affect the labour inclusion of persons with disabilities in the EU.

The gap between the employment rate of persons with disabilities and others persists at around 24 percentage points in the EU.

The six areas of action, part of this package and their foreseen deliverables:

• Strengthening capacities of employment and integration services: Guidance for Member States to improve the accessibility and inclusiveness of employment and career guidance services.
• Promoting hiring perspectives through affirmative action and combating stereotypes: Catalogue of positive actions to facilitate hiring of persons with disabilities.
• Ensuring reasonable accommodation at work: Guidelines for reasonable accommodation at work.
• Retaining persons with disabilities in employment: Manual for managing chronic diseases and preventing the risk of acquiring disabilities.
• Securing vocational rehabilitation schemes in case of sickness or accidents: Guidelines for effective vocational rehabilitation schemes covering frequent diseases and types of accidents.
• Exploring quality jobs in sheltered employment and pathways to the open labour market: recommendations for fair working conditions and career development in alternative forms of employment and pathways to the open labour market that comply with the UNCRPD.

The measures are relevant and helpful for the Social Employers members as employers and as social services providers that support the integration within the labour market. The guidelines on strengthening capacities of employment and integration services and the exploration of quality jobs in sheltered employment and pathways to the open labour market, will of course be of particular interest. The Social Employers will keep you informed of further developments.

The full Joint Paper on Disability Employment Package (2022) is available, HERE.