Disability and Labour Market Participation

The aim of this research for the Equality Authority is to provide a detailed description of the labour market situation of people with disabilities in Ireland and an analysis of the factors associated with participation or non-participation in the labour market. This entails analysis of data from nationally representative surveys which provide individual level data on disability and on labour market status, as well as other demographic and contextual characteristics. The measurement of disability in a survey context poses considerable definitional and methodological difficulties. These issues are the subject of widespread debate, not least in respect of the implications of the shift from a medical to a social model of disability. The study is based on analysis of information from existing datasets rather than attempting to gather new data. At the outset it must be acknowledged that the available datasets have some serious limitations in this context, particularly in the way disability is captured. Nevertheless much can be learned from them about disability and labour market participation, and exploiting them fully will also help to highlight information gaps and thus inform future efforts to improve the statistical base in the area of disability. Datasets such as the Quarterly National Household Survey and, in particular, the special module on disability (Central Statistics Office, 2002) and the Living in Ireland Survey (Economic and Social Research Institute, 2002) and its counterparts for other European Union countries in the European Community Household Panel Survey (Eurostat, 2002) are described in some detail in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3, an overview of disability and labour force participation from available labour force statistics is provided. In Chapter 4 the pattern of chronic or long-standing illness or disability revealed by the information obtained in the special module of the Quarterly National Household Survey and in the Living in Ireland Survey is looked at. Chapter 5 reviews the labour market situation of people who state in those surveys that they have a long-standing illness or disability.This presents and comments on a set of detailed cross-tabulations. In Chapter 6 an exploratory regression-based analysis is undertaken, which estimates models aimed at identifying the impact of disability on labour market participation and how this is affected by other individual and household characteristics. In Chapter 7 we broaden the focus beyond a snap-shot of disability and labour force participation at a point in point in time, to make use of data obtained from the Living in Ireland Survey by following the same individuals over a 6 year period.The overall extent of labour force participation over that whole period can thus be measured and related to reported health status at various points over the period, including any changes in the presence and nature of chronic illness or disability. Chapter 8 seeks to provide a comparative perspective on patterns found for Ireland, by making use of data for other EU member states which allows disability and labour force participation to be studied. Finally, Chapter 9 brings together the main findings of the study.