Swedish labour market for persons with disabilities

Abstract

The goal of Swedish labour market policy is to give the opportunity for earning their bread and butter to all persons in the society. Persons with disabilities are obviously included in this “all persons”. In other words, the aim of the Swedish labour market programmes for the disabled is to provide persons with disabilities a greater chance of participating in society. In Sweden, there is no employment quota system for person with disabilities. However, the employment rate of person with disabilities in Sweden is higher than the employment rate of disabled people in OECD countries where employment quota systems for the disabled are introduced. The purpose of the paper is to investigate why the Swedish employment rate of person with disabilities is not low without employment quota systems for the disabled. The most contributing factor for the high level of labour participation rate and employment rate of the disabled in Sweden is the principle of equal opportunity for all persons in society. In terms of disability, principles such as “anti-discrimination”, “normalisation”, and “inclusion” contribute to realise the high employment rate and the high labour market participation rate for persons with disabilities in Sweden.