44% of people in Russia with a disability are looking for work

44 percent of people with a disability in Russia are looking for work

The inclusive project Everland and the Tsaregorodtseva agency have conducted research on the employment of people with a disability.

19.10.2022

“The findings of the research show that the overwhelming majority of working-age people with a disability would like to find employment.  Whilst some individual businesses have successfully integrated disabled employees, overall the Russian labour market is not yet in a position to be able to properly integrate disabled workers.  Legislation alone will not improve the situation.

“Inclusive recruitment needs to improve, meaning that employers do not merely try to fulfil a quota of workers with a disability, but also create a recruitment process that is beneficial both to the employee and the employer,” explained the co-founder of Everland Elena Martynova.

90 percent of people who became disabled during adulthood have had to leave employment.

99 percent of the participants in the research were of working age.  64 precent had been disabled since childhood, and 50 percent were classed as Group 1 disabled, that is those with mobility issues and serious deterioration in their vision.  45 percent had either higher education or had started a higher education course.

32 percent had become disabled as an adult.  90 percent of these had had to leave their job because of their disability, and 53 percent were then unable to find another job.

For 63 percent the main source of income was disability benefits.

Only 18 percent of participants were satisfied with their financial situation.  These were generally the self-employed, entrepreneurs and those employed officially.  66 percent were not satisfied with their income.

For 63 percent disability benefits were the main source of income, with 19 percent receiving benefits of less than 10 000 roubles a month.

48 percent of people with a disability were not in employment.

48 percent of those surveyed were employed in a variety of sectors, including self-employment, as a sole trader and in informal employment.  The same proportion – 48 percent – were not in employment. 44 percent were looking for work with only 4 percent not intending to work.  Amongst those in employment 71 percent had an official job, with 29 percent working unofficially.  20 percent of those working were self-employed or entrepreneurs.

43 percent of those with a minor disability worked a full day.  Those with a Group 1 (serious) disability often worked part days and preferred remote working.  The main criteria stated for choosing a job were: good pay (43 percent), ability to travel to the place of work (48 per cent) and variety within the job (38 percent).  However, for 20 percent of people the pay was not a key factor, and a quarter (26 per cent) of participants were indifferent to the type of work they did.  This may be due to the fact that for those with a disability the most important thing is being able to work at all.

There were two phases to the research.  The first was a set of twelve in-depth interviews.  The second was an online survey of 292 people with a range of different types and degrees of disability.

Source: : https://www.asi.org.ru/news/2022/10/19/v-rossii-44-lyudej-s-invalidnostyu-ishhut-rabotu/

 

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