Over the last decade, employment levels for people with disabilities in the EU have seen little improvement. Since 2014, there has been a persistent gap of over 20 percentage points between people with and without disabilities who are in employment. The European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) urges governments across Europe to take decisive action to address this stagnation in employment rates. EASPD calls for the development of robust legal frameworks that promote open labour market employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Over the last two days, the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD), in partnership with the Greek Network of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (THE NET), gathered over 350 participants in Athens. Conference attendees included government ministers, European Commission officials, employment support services, employers, and persons with disabilities. Together, participants collectively identified how support services can unlock opportunities for persons with disabilities on the open labour market, in particular by better supporting businesses. Ensuring access to such opportunities is crucial to uphold the rights ascribed in Article 27 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), as well as promote the social inclusion and economic autonomy of persons with disabilities.

The conference highlighted that, despite successful practices of open labour market employment for persons with disabilities existing in many countries, systematic barriers prevent these models from realising their full potential. To make substantial progress in narrowing the disability employment gap, comprehensive national employment policies are needed to scale up these practices or promote their implementation in other European countries. In particular, more ambitious funding policies for employment support services are essential, and governments must address how to maximise the potential of public procurement and state aid policies to drive employment for persons with disabilities on the open labour market.

While speaking at the conference, James Crowe, President of EASPD, emphasised: “Our conference has shown that we have a wealth of underutilised and underdeveloped support services available to ensure quality, well-paid and sustainable jobs for persons with disabilities in businesses. What we need now are systems that enable people and employers to take full advantage of these resources, by creating an effective and well-funded support services system.”

The pressing need to develop national policies that increase the employment rate of persons with disabilities and reduce the employment gap has been acknowledged by the European Commission with the launch of the Disability Employment Package in 2022. The Package delivers a number of tools for EU Member States, public employment services, support services, employers and job seekers with disabilities to improve labour market outcomes for persons with disabilities.

While ensuring employment in the open labour market remains the end goal, the conference highlighted the variety of pathways that can be taken to achieve it. Apprenticeships, job enclaves, Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes and transitioning individuals from protective employment settings can all be utilised to create personalised support pathways for persons with disabilities onto the open labour market. While implementing these practices, the use of Person-centred Technology, including tools driven by Artificial Intelligence, should be considered to enhance accessibility and boost employment opportunities.

EASPD hopes that the conference participants can continue to build on the momentum of this event, collaborate with all stakeholders, and work to ensure that persons with disabilities are valued and supported as integral members of the workforce.

Supporting Documents 

• 'Opening Doors: how can disability support services unlock the open labour market?' Conference Website

For more information, please contact: 

Konstantina Leventi
Head of Policy
Konstantina.leventi@easpd.eu
+32 2 238 39 28

Note to editors: 

The European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities is a non-profit European umbrella organisation, established in 1996, and currently representing over 20,000 social and health services for persons with disabilities. EASPD advocates effective and high-quality disability-related services in the field of education, employment and individualised support, in line with the UN CRPD principles, which could bring benefits not only to persons with disabilities, but to society as a whole.