Disability prevalence stands at around 18% but varies hugely across countries
Looking behind the increase in disability prevalence: the role of age and education
Education levels of people with disability are improving but not enough
The transition from school to work is more difficult for young people with disability
Disability employment gaps are large and have changed little in the past decade
Disability unemployment gaps have remained very high in most OECD countries
Employment and unemployment levels vary across socio‑economic characteristics
Accounting for disability prevalence reduces country differences in the disability employment gap but also blurs the impact of disability on employment outcomes
Wages are lower for people with disability, but working-hour patterns are similar
Job entry and job exit rates are much less favourable for people with disability
Job hiring and unemployment transition rates vary considerably by age and education
Sickness and disability benefits are the main but not the only benefits received
Distributions across types of benefits depend on benefit system design and operation
Most people with severe disability who are unable to work receive benefits
Income levels and income sources differ for people with and without disability
Despite high benefit coverage, poverty rates and gaps remain unacceptably high
Employment rate by country and disability status, 2005‑19 (percentage)
Unemployment rate by country and disability status 2005‑19 (percentage)
Poverty rate by country and disability status, 2005‑19 (percentage)
Distribution of income sources across various characteristics, 2016‑19
Among young people with health issues, severe disabilities seem to be on the rise
Mental health conditions drive the increasing disability incidence in young people
The incidence of depression among young people is on the rise in most countries
Mental health in young people has worsened across all education and income groups
The educational gap starts early in life making a case for early intervention
Young people with disability more often live in single or single‑parent households
In countries where it is common to leave the family home young, young people with disability live less often with their parents
Young people with disability live in poorer households in most countries
Most countries cover young people with disability from the legal age in disability benefit programmes, and often face laxer contributions requirements
The 2015 reform of the Wajong system curbed a fast-growing programme
Households with young people with disability receive family benefits slightly more often
About 40% of young people with disability receive social support from governments
Mainstreaming the social protection for young people with disability may improve their labour market outcomes, but also risks jeopardising their income
Increasing inflow into disability programmes for young people goes hand in hand with a shift towards mental health conditions
Young beneficiaries often remain excluded from quasi-permanent disability pensions
Reforms in Norway have not been effective at boosting the outflow from disability benefits among young people
Vocational rehabilitation results in fewer transitions to employment among young people in Norway than in Austria
People with disability onset early in life represent a large share of current claimants in Norway also at older ages
Young people with disability are more likely to be covered by benefits in Norway than across Europe on average
Countries take different approaches in including SEN students in mainstream classes
The inclusion of SEN students in mainstream classes drops sharply with age
The employment gap is already considerable for young adults in most countries
Large variation in disability recipient rates across OECD countries and over time
Inflows into disability programmes seem to increase with more lax acceptance rates
Higher inflows to disability insurance correlate with higher shares of mental health
The Austrian disability system: The introduction of two transitional programmes
The Belgian disability programme: Unemployment insurance reform
The outflow from disability programmes is fairly low, and unchanged over time
Disability reforms have had moderate impacts on the observed benefit recipient rates
Disability reforms are not correlated with higher employment rates
Active spending on incapacity across OECD countries has barely increased
Sickness insurance programmes are generous, often for extended periods of time
Substantial shares of young claimants engage in vocational rehabilitation
Vocational rehabilitation promotes return to work similarly across all age groups
Transitional benefits are effective at maintaining the employability of people with disability
Tightening the duration of transitional disability benefits in Norway had limited effect on reducing the dependence on social transfers
Claimants in transitional and partial programmes are more often employed, but that does not lead to higher employment rates overall
In European OECD countries, social protection prevents 54% of people with disability from falling in poverty
Disability payments amount to only a fraction of the average wage
Higher shares of workers in self-employment or in non-standard forms of work are not associated with higher employment rates
Self-employed workers more often work very long hours or at night
Workplace risk assessments rarely cover workplaces at home
People with disability more often perform repetitive and routine tasks in their work
People with disability more often work in jobs at risk of automation
Polarisation of the labour market is a larger risk for people with disability
People with disability often lack access to basic digital tools
People with disability are more often self-employed and in certain non-standard forms of work
Self-employment and other non-standard forms of work do not seem to improve the labour market position of people with disability
About a third of jobs held by employees with disability can be performed remotely
People with disability more often have low skills
Even people with disability who have access to the internet show lower digital skills
People with disability participate much less often in adult learning
The adult learning participation gap is particularly high among non-employed people with disability
People with disability often use publicly funded adult learning in Austria and Belgium
Once registered with PES, health problems do not hinder participation in adult learning
Employees with disability engage less often in formal training provided by the employer
Health and age are adult learning participation barriers for many low-educated persons
People with disability slightly less often enter work after participation in adult learning
Employees with disability are less optimistic about their adult learning outcomes
Employees with disability less often say their boss supports learning development
Self-assessed skills mismatch is higher for employees with disability
Publicly funded and widely available career guidance is important for persons facing labour market disadvantage
Staff representatives are not often involved in the organisation of adult learning
Participants of work-based adult learning programmes more often find employment
Fewer than half of firms provide adult learning to a significant part of their employees
Many firms do not apply high performance work practices across OECD countries
People with disability make little use of training leave in Austria