‘Appalling’ employment gap for disabled people needs urgent attention, advocacy group says

An advocacy group says the poor employment outcomes for disabled people need to be addressed with “critical urgency”. Photo / Adobe

Disabled people are employed at half the rate of – and paid significantly less than – non-disabled people, new Stats NZ data shows.

An advocacy group said these poor employment outcomes need to be addressed with “critical urgency”, including reviewing the systemic barriers to work and mandating the reporting of pay gaps between disabled and non-disabled people.

Around one in four New Zealanders has a disability. A 2020 report by the Ministry of Social Development said three-quarters of disabled people not in paid work would like to work if a job was available.

The Labour Market Statistics (disability) for the June 2023 quarter show the employment rate for disabled people aged 15-64 was 39.4 per cent compared to 81.7 per cent for non-disabled people.

The employment rate is the percentage of the working-age population who are employed. It is not the straight-forward opposite of the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is the percentage of the work-force who are unemployed.

The difference in median weekly pay between disabled and non-disabled people aged 15-64 was $225.

President of the Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA), Joanne Dacombe said the employment rate for disabled New Zealanders was “appalling” and more needed to be done to address it.

The latest data from Stats NZ, she said, showed disabled people were not being prioritised in wellbeing initiatives.

“For a country that supposedly cares about addressing employment inequalities, it is shocking that we have an employment rate for disabled people that is dropping, while the employment rate for the general population is climbing.

“This shows a need with critical urgency to look deeper into what factors are driving these increasingly poorer outcomes.”

A report published in April by the DPA said there were many systemic barriers that affected disabled people’s participation in the workforce, including societal attitudes, digital inequity and lack of accessible transport options. These barriers can begin from the moment a person engages with a workplace.

“Some people might have the view that we’re, you know, a drain on the state, if you like. Some people just think of disabled people as being somehow less than or not as good, as there can be barriers around the interview process,” Dacombe said.

“If you disclose that you’re disabled, you may not even get to that interview stage.”

There is Government funding available to support disabled people in the workplace, Dacombe said, and this was appreciated by those who could access it. However, many found the funding difficult to access due to a “labourious” application process.

Dacombe urged the Government to make it mandatory to publicly report pay gaps between disabled and non-disabled people, similar to newly announced requirements for gender pay gaps.

President of the Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA) Joanne Dacombe. Photo / Supplied

Deputy chief executive, policy strategy and partnership, at Whaikaha (Ministry of Disabled People), Ben O’Meara said pay gap reporting might be introduced in the future as part of its work with the Public Service Commission to create opportunities for disabled people in the public service.

“A barrier to carrying out further disability pay gap reporting is that many disabled people are hesitant to identify as such because of ongoing concerns about discrimination.”

O’Meara said the latest Stats NZ figures showed “there is still much work to do”.

“Disabled people are a fabulous untapped talent pool of loyal and committed employees. They bring a perspective that can help transform an organisation’s culture, client relations, and performance for the better.”

There was a misconception that providing support that enable disabled people to work would be expensive, but the most common reasonable accommodation was flexible working arrangements, he said.

Hayley Hamilton, general manager of employment and housing at the Ministry of Social Development, said work was underway to address poor outcomes for disabled people, including Budget 2023 funding for a new pilot to support vocational rehabilitation and the development of mental health and employment support.

Julia Gabel is an Auckland-based reporter with a focus on data journalism. She joined the Herald in 2020.