In the modern society, labor employment is one of the most important approaches through which the disabled persons can realize their values as well as the basis for such people to obtain economic income, achieve genuine independence, and equally participate in social activities. Therefore, to make full use of the intelligence, wisdom, and potential of disabled persons and turn them into an important force that drives the economic and social development, the nation must lay emphasis on the employment of disabled persons. However, the academic circles of China have always paid little attention to and made little research on the employment problems of the handicapped, and the employment situation of disabled persons is becoming more and more serious today. Based on empirical research, this paper aims to have an in-depth discussion of the current situation and problems of the employment of disabled persons.
1. Institutional patterns for the employment of disabled persons
The Chinese Government has always laid emphasis on the employment of disabled persons ever since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. After the 1980s, in particular, the nation published many laws, regulations and preferential policies which gradually formed the legal basis for the employment of the handicapped. Up till now, four major institutional patterns have been formed for the employment of disabled persons of China.
(1) Centralized employment of disabled persons. This means to establish welfare enterprises dedicated to the handicapped and centrally provide disabled persons with labor equipment and tools and necessary welfare facilities. This pattern offers consummate work conditions for disabled persons and a relatively familiar and natural environment for them to work in, enhancing mutual understanding and reducing discrimination. So far many Chinese welfare enterprises have created their own product brands and gained considerable popularity. For example, “Dabao” cosmetics and “Zhuangguang 101” series products of Beijing are selling well.
(2) Proportion-based employment of disabled persons. This means that the national and local governments require, in the form of laws and decrees, all entities of the society to hire disabled persons according to certain proportions or carry out their legal responsibilities by paying Employment Guarantee Fund for the Handicapped. The essence of this pattern is to regard the employment of the handicapped as a responsibility of the whole society and mobilize the forces of the entire society to arrange for the employment of these people. It has been proved in practice that this pattern can not only elevate the employment rate of disabled persons, but also enhance the activeness and creativeness of disabled persons as they play equal roles in the society.
(3) Individual employment of disabled persons. This means that disabled persons find business and service projects on their own or that the government helps them establish labor organizations and has them run and manage these organizations on their own. At present, the scale of individual employment of disabled persons of China is already greater than those of centralized employment and proportion-based employment. And individual employment takes up large proportions in the employment of urban disabled persons in some provinces and cities. Surveys show that of the 176,000 disabled persons employed throughout the Province of Anhui, about 126,000 are self-employed. There are a large number of handicapped entrepreneurs in Zhejiang, a province with relatively developed private economy. 260 of them have assets in excess of 1 million Yuan and 40 of them have assets in excess of 10 million Yuan.[1]
(4) Flexible employment of disabled persons. This means that disabled individuals or NGOs of disabled persons participate in handy and convenience services for the public of communities, such as house cleaning, greenkeeping, security service, carport management, reception and delivery of newspapers and periodicals, elevator maintenance, and salvage of waste materials. This employment pattern fits the characteristics of the handicapped and has been developing rapidly in large and medium-sized cities. The main characteristic of this pattern is to fit some of the disabled persons into public-benefit labor posts in communities by relying on the construction of communities, integrating resources within communities, making use of the supporting policies by labor authorities, and joining the efforts of various circles of the society.
2. Statistical analysis of the employment of disabled persons
However, the current employment situation of disabled persons is not very satisfactory. Since the establishment of the market-oriented economic system, both the status and role of centralized employment of disabled persons in welfare enterprises have been descending drastically and the proportion-based employment pattern also has problems that urgently need solutions. And some new conditions and new problems have posed unprecedented difficulties and challenges against the employment of disabled persons.
On the whole, the employment situation of disabled persons in China has been worsening in recent years. During the “Eleventh Five-Year” Period, the number of laborers in urban areas of China has been expanding by 10 million annually. Considering laid-off workers, unemployed people, and other surplus or transferred workers, we need to provide employment opportunities for up to 24 million laborers every year. In rural areas, although 200 million people have been employed by township and village enterprises or become migrant workers in cities, there are still more than 120 million surplus laborers. Statistics reveal that in 2008, there were 114,040,000 employees in enterprises and public institutions throughout the country, which decreased by 4,940,000 compared with those of the same period in the previous year. And there were 110,300,000 employees in urban enterprises and public institutions, which decreased by 5,060,000 compared with those of the same period in the previous year. The number of laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises alone reached up to 7,690,000 in that year. Researchers have analyzed the supply-demand status in the labor markets of 59 large and medium-sized cities throughout the country and came to the conclusion that only 0.65 job posts are available for each job-seeker on an average.[2]According to the data issued by the Department of Talent Flow of Ministry of Personnel as of the first quarter of 2008, the job demand ratio of the human resource market was 1:2.86 throughout the country. In other words, about three job-seekers were competing for the same job post on an average. Due to the huge population and extremely limited number of new employment opportunities, the overall situation of employment in China will remain quite serious within a very long period of time in the future.
And given their disadvantageous physical conditions, disabled persons will find it even harder to get employed. Statistics show that in 2007, only 22,660,000 out of the 82,960,000 disabled persons in China successfully got employed. 4,630,000 of them were based in towns and cities and 18,030,000 were based in villages. At present, 8,580,000 disabled persons having physical working capabilities and meeting the age requirements for employment are still unemployed and the number of disabled laborers is increasing by about 300,000 annually. And welfare enterprises dedicated to disabled persons cannot accommodate the great number of newly-rising disabled laborers and have to dismiss a lot of laid-off disabled persons. Researches show that the number of disabled employees in welfare enterprises throughout the country has dropped from a peak value of 900,000 to less than 700,000 at present, leading to a serious employment situation among welfare enterprises. For example, the total number of welfare enterprises of Shanghai has dropped from more than 4200 in 1996 to 3198 in 2002, and the number of employed disabled persons has also fallen from above 92,000 to a little more than 62,000. In 1999 there were more than 300 welfare enterprises in Jinan accommodating more than 6,000 disabled workers. But so far only 138 of them are left, employing only 2,048 disabled workers. The number of disabled workers employed by welfare enterprises of Jiangsu Province has also dropped from a peak of 248,000 to the current 210,000.[3]
With regard to the entire country, employment of disabled persons shows the following distinctive characteristics.[4]
(1) Low employment rate. Surveys have revealed that the employment rate of disabled persons is only 44.8%. The employment rate is 46.4% among male disabled persons, 42.3% among female disabled persons, 45.8% among urban disabled persons, and 36.6% among rural disabled persons. Unemployed disabled persons are most supported by their families and take up a proportion of 48.1%. And their proportion is even up to 54.7% in urban areas.
(2) Low employment income. Surveys have shown that 40% of the employed disabled persons have monthly incomes lower than 500 Yuan, which is below the minimum wage standard of Chengdu. And only about 10% have monthly incomes above 1000. More than 1/3 of them are either “unsatisfied” or “very unsatisfied” about their current income. Wages of most disabled employees in welfare enterprises are also relatively low. For example, the mean annual wage of disabled employees in welfare enterprises of Jinan is about 4500 Yuan, which is only half of the mean annual wage of normal employees. The mean annual wage of disabled employees in welfare enterprises of Shanghai is about 6500 Yuan, and the mean annual wage of normal employees is 15O00 Yuan.
(3) Disabled persons seldom realize the necessity to vindicate their rights and are often inclined to depend on others. Surveys have revealed that when employment conflicts take place, about 35.4% of disabled people turn to China Disabled Persons’ Federation for help, 23.9% choose to swallow the consequences, 5.5% plan to argue with their employers, and only 2.9% file law suits to courts. One online survey shows that none of the 34 interviewees were willing to bring a law suit to the court.
1. Problems with provisions of law
Employment of disabled persons in China is mainly adjusted by policies and seldom adjusted by law. At present, proportion-based employment is most important legal provision for disabled people. But this provision is certainly not a consummate one and its execution is unsatisfactory. Below are some of the major problems:
(1) The payment standard of security funds for disabled persons is too rigid and inconvenient for operations. In reality, some employers offering wages lower than the social average refuse to pay for security funds on grounds that such funds are unfair to them, while employers offering wages higher than the social average are more willing to pay for security funds instead of actually hiring the handicapped. This adds to the difficulty of proportion-based employment of disabled persons and pulls us further away from the legal provision. Therefore the payment standard of security funds for disabled persons needs to be adjusted. For example we can set a target value for adjustment and prescribe uniform limits and levels for the mitigation of due security fund payment by under-deficit enterprises in order to ensure the sustainability of laws and regulations.
(2) Insufficient power of enforcement on organizations and public institutions. According to relevant legal provisions, organizations and public institutions shall disburse from their budget surplus their payment for employment security funds of disabled persons. As a matter of fact, however, some of them are in bad financial status and end up with limited surplus money which can hardly cover their due payment for employment security funds. Other entities even refuse to pay for the employment security funds on grounds that they do not have any surplus. This all affects the collection of employment security funds. These entities were supposed to be examples for the employment of disabled persons. But the law has provided possibilities for them to evade from their responsibilities.
(3) Employment security funds for disabled persons are all strictly limited to five purposes. Some due tasks cannot be done without the funds. So far many regions have not established good mechanisms for the operation of money. Grass-roots units dare not make investments; neither do they know how to make investments. They cannot properly and flexibly make use of the employment security funds. Entities in some places dare not spend money to manage and use employment security funds. Therefore more efforts should be made to use employment security funds to support the establishment of individual businesses and enterprises collectively owned by disabled persons and to help poor disabled persons engaged in the farming and livestock breeding industries. At the same time, the income-expenditure balances and use of employment security funds for disabled persons shall be made public to the society and the handicapped be put under social supervision.
(4) The current legal provision has neither endowed China Disabled Persons’ Federation and service agencies for the employment of disabled persons with any qualification as law-enforcement subjects nor defined other law enforcement subjects. This is a big problem. Due to the failure to establish a government-based responsibility system, the employment management of disabled persons is short of administrative authority and more needs to be done to guarantee the rights of disabled persone and provide vocational guidance and employment service for the handicapped. Due to the absence of a clearly-defined law-enforcement subject, law cannot be executed and entities and individuals committing misconduct cannot be duly punished, rendering the Law of the People’s Public of China on Security of Rights for Disabled Persons a “monster without teeth” just like those for women, children, and old people.
2. Problems with government policies
With the development of market-oriented economy and the shifting pattern of economic growth, the labor-intensive industries of China are shrinking rapidly. And the policy patterns used to promote the employment of disabled persons cannot accommodate the changes in the personnel systems of modern enterprises and public institutions, making it even harder for the already less competitive disabled population to get employed.
(1) The tax reimbursement policies for welfare enterprises are neither consummate nor well-coordinated. According to Interim Provisions on Recruitment of Handicapped Workers by Social Welfare Enterprises issued by Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Health, and China Disabled Persons’ Federation, handicapped workers include those with visual disabilities, physical disabilities, hearing (speech) disabilities, and intellectual disabilities. However, State Administration of Taxation only recognize those with visual, hearing, speech, and physical disabilities as handicapped workers, excluding those with intellectual disabilities. As a result many welfare enterprises are not able to enjoy the relevant reimbursement policies and have thus terminated labor relations with their intellectually-disabled employees on after another. For example, some welfare enterprises in Qingdao dismissed intellectually-disabled employees in the first half of 2003 and as a result, many disabled workers besieged the Government. The whole event caused very bad consequences.
(2) Both the investment subjects and business scopes of welfare enterprises are limited. According to Notice on Collecting Turnover Tax from Civil Welfare Enterprises issued by State Administration of Taxation in 1994, only those established by civil administration departments, townships, villages, and neighborhoods are considered as welfare enterprises entitled to the reimbursement policies. Welfare enterprises established by all other subjects are not entitled to reimbursement policies. In addition, welfare enterprises are only allowed to undertake industrial production and prohibited from business and service areas. All of these have limited the development of centralized employment.
(3) A lot of welfare enterprises are suffering from low overall quality of employees, rigid organizational systems, simple and crude equipment, old technologies, and outdated management practice. With the implementation of the market-oriented economic policies and the more and more heated competition between industries and enterprises, welfare enterprises have witnessed strong impacts. The declining profits and depressed production have seriously limited the development of some welfare enterprises, rendering them the actually weaker ones in contrast to other enterprises.
(4) Different employers and enterprises of different ownerships are not provided with equal duties by the proportion-based employment policies and are treated on a discriminatory basis. For example, proportion-based employment is not required of foreign-invested enterprises and private enterprises in places like Suzhou and Wuxi. And only the urban population is included in the arrangement, which is unfit for the accelerating transfer of rural laborers to the non-agricultural fields.
(5) There are insufficient rigid requirements in the preferential policies developed by the nation for individual businesses and flexible employment of disabled persons. Casualness is frequently seen in the execution of these policies, which often fail to be implemented. For example, some individual businesses are facing barriers and difficulties when it comes to taxation, credit & loan, sites, and services. And the lawful rights and interests of flexible employment cannot be guaranteed.
3. Social discrimination and exclusion
Employment of disabled persons is largely affected by adverse external conditions such as unequal education and training opportunities, obstacles set by public facilities, poor access to employment information, lack of appliances (apparatus) for the handicapped, and most importantly, the social discrimination and exclusion against disabled persons, all of which have caused certain impacts on the employment of disabled persons.
(1) The society has not formed a proper understanding of the employment of disabled persons. Some hold that employment of disabled persons is totally out of the question because even normal people find it difficult to get employed and a huge number of workers have been laid off. Others believe that proportion-based employment of disabled persons is actually an intervention against the enterprises’ right to handle their own recruitment, and that the collection of employment security funds for disabled persons is a matter of “arbitrary charges” which increases the burden on enterprises. And some even consider disabled persons as “encumbrances”. Constrained by the circumstances and the pressure from polices for the employment of disabled persons, they assume a negative attitude towards the employment of disabled persons and are not willing to provide any favorable support for the employment of disabled persons.
(2) As to their behaviors, many employers fail to employ disabled persons in accordance with the required proportions. Surveys show that more than 70% of disabled persons have been discriminated on their way to employment. And nearly half of the female disabled persons said yes to “Are female disabled people faced with greater difficulties landing a job?” Considering the medical expenditures, labor insurance, and welfare of employed disabled workers, some enterprises would rather pay for the employment security funds than having disabled persons as permanent employees. For example, of the 10,042 entities participating in the proportion-based employment program for disabled persons in Shanghai, 2,198 have chosen to make payments to the employment security fund for disabled persons. And some enterprises do not make disabled persons work but pay each one of them a monthly wage of 100~200 Yuan just to complete the required quota. However, since such disabled persons are not really employed, they cannot actually make a living. And this practice has hindered the implementation of the proportion-based employment policy for disabled persons. In addition, some local governments fail to support the enforced implementation on grounds that they have to protect the investment environment and reduce the burden on enterprises. This further adds to the obstacle against the proportion-based employment policy for disabled persons.
4. Problems with the quality of disabled persons themselves
The quality of disabled persons is not up to the requirements for the development of modern science and technology and they lack the competitive spirit and ability of competition. This is also an important reason for the difficulty in their employment.
(1) Employment of disabled persons is quite special. Both their career options and work types are limited by the types and degrees of their disabilities. For example, visually disabled persons cannot undertake jobs having eyesight requirements. Teaching and oral interpretation are difficult for people with hearing or speech disabilities. Intellectually disabled persons cannot cope with brainwork or technical work. And mentally disabled persons are unfit for management work. Moreover, varied degrees of disability also have major influences on the working capabilities of disabled persons.
(2) “Low literacy and low level of skills” are major obstacles causing difficulties in the employment of disabled persons. Surveys show that disabled persons with junior high school or lower education degrees take up 60.7% urban areas and 78.6% in rural areas. Both proportions are far lower than those of normal people. Besides, 74.4% of all disabled persons throughout the country do not hold any qualification certificate. And 19.1% of urban and 29.1% of rural disabled persons failed to complete the Nine-Year Compulsory Education.[5]In the Linhu Community of the City of Hefei, up to 37% of disabled persons are fully-illiterate or semi-illiterate. Only 8.8% of them have had high school (technical secondary school) education. And none of them have had any education higher than high school (technical secondary school).[6]This has reduced disabled persons to the actually weak ones in the competition of employment.
(3) Due to their low labor skills, employment of disabled persons is generally unstable. Due to their low literacy and relatively simplex labor skills, disabled persons are usually competent only for common, dull, and unstable jobs. Their employment structure is simplex and their roles are easily replaceable. For example, blind people are mostly limited to the occupation of heath-preserving massage, while this industry or line of business is capable of accommodating only a limited number of laborers in the labor market and more and more normal people are entering this field. Upon any disturbance in their employers, these disabled persons are the first to be affected.
Disabled persons are a disadvantaged group in need of care in their lives. They have the same values and dignity of life just as those of normal people. The care for disabled persons is an embodiment of the kindest and most beautify part of humanity. For the purposes of solving the difficulties and problems in the employment and disabled persons and providing wider and smoother approaches for their employment, this paper hereby proposes the following suggestions.
1.Consummate legislation and provide special guarantee for the employment of disabled persons.
According to the experience of various countries around the world, centralized employment, proportion-based employment, and individual employment are all good employment patterns that could be used to promote the employment of disabled persons. For example, European countries such as Swiss, Sweden, and Finland have made governmental investments to set up factories for disabled persons, centrally put disabled persons in the job posts thereby created, and offered preferential taxation, credit & loan, goods supply, and industry policies through legislation. In other countries such as Japan, UK, and France, governmental organizations, enterprises, and public institutions are required to offer certain proportions of their job posts to disabled persons. In addition, some countries have prescribed the minimum sizes of enterprises which are required to hire disabled persons. For example, USA and Austria require that enterprises having more than 20 employees must hire disabled persons. Most countries in the world have adopted preferential taxation policies and other preferential measures for the individual employment of disabled persons.
However, Chine needs to further consummate its relevant legislation. This is because disabled persons are a special disadvantaged group that needs special employment protection. For example we can offer, through legislation, further preferential tax concessions to welfare enterprises for disabled persons. At the same time we can allow diverse and social entities as the investment subjects of welfare enterprises, cancel the limitations on the industries for which welfare enterprises are eligible, encourage and create all kinds of conditions for disabled persons to take part in businesses of the Tertiary Industry, and offer them support through government procurement. With regard to the proportion-based employment of disabled persons, we need to stop and battle the misconducts such as discrimination and exclusion against employment of disabled persons. In addition, we need to amend the Civil Servant Act, allow employers to recruit some disabled persons according to the requirements on positions and the kind of people their want to hire, include the recruitment of both civil servants and public institutions in the scope of legal proceedings, and thereby guarantee the employment rights of disabled persons. At the same time we should guarantee the employment of disabled persons in rural regions and also include them in the scope of proportion-based employment through legislation. With regard to the individual employment of disabled persons, we should provide further encouragement and support. In addition to preferential taxation policies, we can offer long-term low-interest loans or certain financial aids for disabled persons to start their own businesses.
2. Increase the intensity of enforcement and truly implement the measures that promote the employment of disabled persons.
First, we should truly implement the laws and regulations supporting the employment of disabled persons. According to provisions of the law, the government has an important obligation to execute the employment laws and regulations for disabled persons. For example, the government is supposed to provide good service for welfare enterprises, make sure to use the reimbursed tax of the nation for the development of enterprises and the improvement of the lives of disabled workers, and create a good environment for the steady development of welfare enterprises. At the same time we should strengthen the standardization and management of enterprises employing disabled persons by means of annual inspection and taxation, and firmly prohibit the practice of “nominal employment”. In addition, the collection and use of employment security funds for disabled persons shall be standardized and entities submitting requests to deduct or exempt their payment for employment security funds shall be strictly examined. To prevent employers from employing only slightly disabled workers, we can follow the practice of some European countries to count the scores (disability coefficients) of employers within the proportion-based employment program for disabled persons according to the disability degrees of disabled workers they employ, and use such scores to calculate the reimbursement ratios of employers and the amounts they are due to pay for the employment security funds. As a matter of fact, many problems will no longer exist if the laws and regulations on the employment of disabled persons are strictly carried out.
Second, those violating the regulations on the employment of disabled persons shall be punished and repressed. The current law of the People’s Republic of China provides many rights for disabled persons but fails to specify which departments are responsible for implementing these rights. In other words, nobody will be held liable for not implementing these rights. And due to the absence of any law-enforcement subject, no organization will investigate these responsibilities. Therefore appropriate law-enforcement subjects should be established and be endowed with certain administrative or law enforcement rights. For example they can be entitled to give warnings, require rectifications, impose fines, or apply to the court for enforced execution against conducts violating the legal provisions for the employment security of disabled persons. The experience of France is good reference for us in this aspect. The French government requires that all enterprises having more than 20 employees fill at least 6% of their job posts with disabled workers. Those failing to meet this requirement will be fined: 5,000 Euros for each post failing to be occupied by a disabled person in the first year, which is increased to 5,000~15,000 Euros in the second year. And their government provides employers of disabled persons with special equipment needed by these people in work. In addition, we need to adjust the reimbursement policies for welfare enterprises of disabled persons, make sure that the reimbursed tax truly benefits disabled persons, and punish those taking advantage of the preferential taxation policies of the nation by embezzling tax reimbursement in the name of welfare enterprises.
3.Enhance education and training, improve the literacy and vocational skills of disabled persons.
Many disabled persons cannot make rapid adaptations to the job requirements due to their own reasons. Even if there are jobs available, it is most likely that they are incompetent for them because they fail to achieve the basic job qualifications. Therefore, depending on social resources, it is necessary to carry out various job trainings in excessive channels and orientations, help them master working skills and exert their subjective initiatives to adapt themselves to the society instead of waiting passively.
Firstly, it is necessary to make full use of the training channels now available. At present there are many channels for job trainings: all kinds of training institutions held by Labor Department, Education Department, Poverty Relief Office, adult education and private entities can provide disabled persons with a good platform for training. The government needs to coordinate the training institutions at different levels, make them exhibit their respective advantages and bring the training of disabled persons into them. With the support of all the social forces, it is possible to improve the quality of disable persons and their working capabilities and skills. Meanwhile the job training fee should be incorporated into the local financial budget so that the disabled persons can be trained for free.
Secondly, it is necessary to improve the overall cultural level and vocational skills of the disabled persons. Disabled persons, generally with low education and skills, are in an unfavorable position in the social competition for jobs. Hence, the education for disabled children and teenagers should be practically brought into the compulsory education system. The construction of special schools should also be planned as a whole. Meanwhile, it is essential to further perfect the admission policies of institutions of higher learning for disabled students, relax the physical examination standard, enlarge the number of the recruitment of disabled students, and encourage those schools to offer special education classes. Only in this way, can we stir up self-esteem, self-confidence, self-reliance, and self-improvement in disables persons and thus enhance their competitiveness in the society.
4.Establish a disability insurance system and guarantee the bottom-line living standard of disabled persons.
Employment of disabled persons is a difficult problem troubling all countries in the world. In an international point of view, it will be difficult to thoroughly solve the employment problem of disabled persons, which can only be alleviated to some extent by means of policies and laws. China has a disabled population of 82,960,000. It will be impossible to employ all disabled persons or employ disabled persons on a lifetime basis. Therefore we must properly establish a social security system and in particular, subsistence allowances system and a disability insurance system, which are the bottom-line for the subsistence of disabled persons. An insurance system for disabled people in Swiss can not only guarantee the subsistence of job-losing disabled persons just like everybody else, but also provide them with disability compensations. Disabled persons have higher cost of living, they need the kind of balances which cover not only their normal living expenses, but also their rehabilitation and purchase of equipment (appliances) for the handicapped. Therefore it is only by establishing both a subsistence allowances system and a consummate disability insurance system that we can properly guarantee the subsistence of disabled persons.
（本文是笔者在弗里堡大学联邦研究所做访问研究提交的成果）
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Changcheng Wang ,Main problems and policy choices in the employment of disabled persons, http://www.szedu.com.cn .
[2] Xinsheng Wang ,Analysis of difficulties causes and countermeasures in the employment of disabled persons, http://www.lunwenwang.com .
[3] Changcheng Wang ,Main problems and policy choices in the employment of disabled persons, http://www.szedu.com.cn .
[4] Fangzheng Chen ,Unemployment situations and countermeasures of disabled persons, Journal of South China Agricultural University in 2008,01.
[5] Fangzheng Chen ,Unemployment situations and countermeasures of disabled persons, Journal of South China Agricultural University in 2008,01.
[6] Linhu Community, Investigation and Analysis toSsupport the Employment of Disabled Persons in Our Community, http://www.hetda.com .
主办：中国社会科学院法学研究所、国际法研究所
地址：北京市东城区沙滩北街15号
