ABSTRACT
This chapter examines disabled people’s position in the labour market and how employment opportunities are being influenced by changes in the nature of work, and looks at how effective governments’ policies aimed at increasing employment rates among disabled people have been. In the United Kingdom, official statistics indicate that around half of all disabled people are in employment, with around 2.3 million people receiving out of work disability benefits. Disabled people would therefore seem to have borne the main brunt of high unemployment rates in areas of economic decline and stagnation. A convincing argument can therefore be made that variations in the demand for labour are a significant factor in determining disabled people’s experiences of employment and unemployment. The decline of public sector employment has also had a disproportionate impact on disabled people as they are more likely to find employment in the public sector rather than in the private sector.
