The legal employment rate of disabled workers was raised to 2.5% in April 2024 and a further increase to 2.7% is scheduled for July 2026. To meet the legal standard, companies are stepping up effort to recruit workers with disabilities. To promote employment of disabled workers, the Labor Ministry has recently disclosed the results of “Fiscal 2023 status survey of the employment of disabled workers” (hereinafter, “the Survey Result”). This article looks into the status of employment of disabled workers and consider issues and important points.
[1] Status of employment of disabled workers
The Labor Ministry surveyed the status as of June 1, 2023 (or May 2023 for wages and work hours) with 9,400 private companies with five or more regular employees selected by random sampling.
According to the Survey Result, workers with disabilities employed by those companies totaled 1,107,000, increasing by 256,000 from the previous survey in 2018. (The number totaled 851,000 in 2018.) Among them, the number of workers with physical disabilities was 526,000 (423,000 in 2018), and the number of workers with intellectual disabilities was 275,000 (189,000 in 2018). There were 215,000 workers with mental disorders (200,000 in 2018), while the number of workers with developmental difficulties amounted to 91,000 (39,000 in 2018).
By the types of work, a majority of workers with physical and mental disabilities engaged in clerical work, while many workers with intellectual disabilities or developmental difficulties belonged to service departments.
[2] Issues and important points in employing workers with disabilities
About issues in employing disabled workers, companies cited “whether there are suitable tasks in the company” for any type of disabilities. For physically impaired workers, companies were also concerned about “whether appropriate safety measures can be implemented in the workplace.”
About matters to be considered when hiring disabled workers, companies cited the following items, indicating they give consideration in various areas according to the types of disabilities.
* Numbers in ( ) are the percentages.
[Workers with physical disabilities]
Recess management, such as making it easier to take leave or allowing breaks during work hours (40.2%)
Work management measures, such as allowing workers to visit hospitals or take medication (38.3%)
Work-hour management, including short-time work (37.9%)
[Workers with intellectual disabilities]
Work assignment to support workers to demonstrate their abilities (51.1%)
Work-hour management, including short-time work (50.9%)
Easy-to-understand work instructions (50.3%)
[Workers with mental disorders]
Work-hour management, including short-time work (54.3%)
Recess management, such as making it easier to take leave or allowing breaks during work hours (50.9%)
Work management measures, such as allowing workers to visit hospitals or take medication (49.2%)
[Workers with developmental difficulties]
Recess management, such as making it easier to take leave or allowing breaks during work hours (61.2%)
Work-hour management, including short-time work (50.9%)
The Japan Organization for Employment of Elderly, Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers provides subsidy programs for companies making efforts to hire workers with disabilities and maintain their employment. Companies can check what program is available according to the measures they are taking or purposes. Please make use of the subsidies or other programs to increase employment of workers with disabilities.
[Reference]
Labor Ministry, “Results of fiscal 2023 status survey of the employment of disabled workers”
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_39062.html
The Japan Organization for Employment of Elderly, Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers, “Search for a subsidy program for the employment of disabled workers by effort examples”
