Nearly Three in 10 individuals with disabilities who’re of working age are employed: MOM survey

SINGAPORE: Almost three in ten people with disabilities (PWDs) of working age are employed, Minister of State for Labor Zaqy Mohamad told parliament on Monday (September 2).

The employment rate for residents aged 15 to 64 years old was 28.6 percent, Zaqy said in response to a parliamentary question from MP Chong Kee Hiong on the employment rates of disabled people.

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Another 4.2 percent of people with disabilities in this age group were unemployed and were actively looking for one, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 12.9 percent.

“The remaining two-thirds of PWDs in this age group were outside the working population, with most of them citing poor health or disability as the main cause,” added Zaqy.

The Ministry of Labor (MOM) has started collecting data on the employment outcomes of people with disabilities as part of the annual comprehensive labor force survey. Data are available from 2018.

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Mr. Chong also asked for a breakdown of employment rates by age group.

In response, Mr. Zaqy said the employment rate for people with disabilities aged 15 to 39 was 27.6 percent. For people between 40 and 49 years of age, the population’s employment rate was 37.8 percent.

This rate was 26.1 percent of PWDs between the ages of 50 and 64 and 5.9 percent for those aged 65 and over.

The sectors in which the most resident PWDs are employed are community, social and personal services, food services, administrative and support services, and manufacturing, which together account for more than half of PWD employment.

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Ms. Roszana Ali (right) thanks her best friend, Ms. Juni Syafiqah Jumat, for introducing her to her first job.

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INACCURATE STREET TIMES

In a supplementary question, Mr. Chong asked for an explanation of the February figures published by The Straits Times (ST) newspaper, which reported that “only 5 out of 100 people here have disabilities”.

Mr. Zaqy replied that the figures quoted were “incorrect”.

“”The wrong data was derived from ST using various sources of publicly available data, “the minister said.

The data from the comprehensive labor force survey for people with disabilities was not ready, MOM later said, adding that ST was collecting data from various sources.

“For the total number of PWDs in the population, ST used the estimated prevalence rate from an NCSS survey of 2,000 people,” Zaqy added.

“This is different from what we got from the comprehensive labor force survey, which covers about 100,000 people in 33,000 households, so this is a more accurate view.”

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Plans to Help Enterprises Recruit PWDS

MP Intan Azura Mokhtar also raised another question about the effectiveness of state systems in helping companies or employers recruit people with disabilities.

She cited the Special Employment Credit (SEC), the Open Door Program (ODP), and Workfare.

In response, Mr. Zaqy said that in 2012 MOM expanded the SEC to include employers who hire Singaporeans with disabilities of all ages and earn up to S $ 4,000 a month.

The SEC offers automatic wage compensation of up to 16 percent of the employee’s monthly income for PWDs under 67 and up to 22 percent for PWDs 67 and over.

“Last year, more than 5,700 employers who hire more than 8,600 Singaporean people with disabilities have benefited from the SEC,” added the minister.

“That number has increased since 2012 when the SEC paid around 3,200 employers who hire approximately 5,000 Singaporeans with disabilities.”

Employers and PwDs can access employment support services and programs through the Adapt and Grow initiative, and that includes the ODP and Career Study, Zaqy said.

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The ODP Training Grant provides a grant of up to 90 percent of the course fees to support the training of PWDs and their employees. The ODP Job Redesign Grant allows employers to fund up to 90 percent of the cost of redesigning workplaces, capped at S $ 20,000 per employee with disabilities, to help integrate people with disabilities into the workplace.

“Some employers and PwDs may have reservations about the fit and suitability of the work environment,” Zaqy said.

“To address these concerns, the career test offers job seekers and employers the opportunity to try each other and assess their ability to work through a test. During the process, which can take up to three months, job seekers receive a training grant from the government.”

He stated that nearly 780 companies that supported the Adapt and Grow initiative have hired more than 2,000 PWDs, with at least 60 percent of those PWDs still employed after six months.

The minister mentioned that the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) and Workfare Training Support (WTS) were extended to low-wage PWDs of all ages in 2012 and 2017, respectively.

WIS complements the salaries and CPF savings of lower-wage PWDs with up to S $ 3,600 in cash and CPF dues per year, while WTS provides support such as tuition and training grants.

“Over 6,400 Singaporean people with disabilities benefited from WIS last year, up from more than 3,500 in 2012,” said Zaqy.

“The number of Singaporeans with disabilities who have benefited from Watchtower training also rose to around 860 last year, up from around 640 in 2017.”

In March this year, the Ministry of Social and Family Development announced the formation of a new working group to improve learners’ access to learning opportunities and employment paths.

The working group intends to publish its recommendations early next year, Zaqy said.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated following corrections by the Department of Labor (MOM). Mr. Zaqy said that the ministry had not carried out the comprehensive labor force survey for people with disabilities and that ST had amalgamated data from different sources. MOM later made it clear that the data from the survey was “not ready”.