Pandemic may have worsened job struggle for differently abled

Majority of those with work are self-employed; only 15% receive regular wages or are salaried employees

Indigo’s poor treatment of a teenager with special needs, who was denied boarding earlier this month, invited widespread condemnation. The incident also drew attention to the struggles of persons with disabilities (PWDS). This struggle extends to employment, too. And it has only got tougher with the pandemic.

Preeti Monga has been getting more phone calls from persons with disabilities seeking jobs after the pandemic than before. This, despite the founder and chief executive officer of the Silver Linings Trust, an organisation that works with PWDS, having shifted focus from placements to education many years ago.

Monga sees the rise as indicative of a potential increase in PWD unemployment. There are more people unemployed after the economic ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has increased the competition for the already scarce jobs, thereby worsening the situation for those with disabilities, she says.

There has also been the loss of existing means of support with layoffs and economic turmoil costing livelihoods among the PWD population as well.

“People have lost jobs for sure,” says Arman Ali, executive director, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), a Delhi-headquartered nonprofit. He adds that he has seen loss of livelihood even among those who were self-employed, in addition to those who worked as employees.

The employment scenario for the PWD community was already below average. Only around 24 out of every 100 were either working or looking for work. This metric, called the labour force participation rate, was given in the Survey of Persons with Disabilities (Julydecember 2018) as part of the 76th round of the National Sample Survey (NSS). The corresponding figure for India overall was obtained from the 2018-19 annual report of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). It was more than twice the PWD figure (see chart 1).

The lower rate of employment is borne out by other data. PWDS held around 1.2 per cent of jobs in government companies for the financial year 2019-20 (FY20), according to Public Enterprises Survey reports.

A Business Standard analysis of disclosures by India’s largest listed companies showed a mere 0.5 per cent PWD share in employment in FY19.

A number of persistent issues, such as lack of education and training, still affect the PWD population.

Only around 52.2 per cent of the PWD population was literate, according to the NSS report, compared to 74.04 per cent for India overall. However, the report also noted that 19.3 per cent had attained secondary-level education and above. Many are unable to find a job thereafter, according to those working in the field.

This has meant that the majority of PWDS who work are self-employed (59.7 per cent). While 25.3 per cent of those with jobs are engaged in casual labour, only 15 per cent receive regular wages or are salaried employees (see chart 2).

Ali of NCPEDP says that India Inc can help by becoming equal-opportunity employers. Private companies could focus on training and making members of the PWD community employable through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) arms, he says. They could then let them compete on a level playing field for any available jobs without favour, Ali adds. Providing reasonable accommodation to those hired, such as flexible hours, may help them navigate the workspace. The government and policy-makers, too, could help by encouraging entrepreneurship, he says.