Employment of people with disabilities in Greece

The policy or policies for work and employment, or in other words, the fight against unemployment and social exclusion, take on a special importance when it comes to citizens belonging to the category of persons with disabilities.

One of the most important tools for the integration of people with disabilities into society is employment. Employment, together with education, are the main levers for the integration of people with disabilities into society, while at the same time the lack of comprehensive intervention policies in these areas is one of the main causes of social exclusion.

In these cases, a large number of complex problems arise, and the responsibility of the state and of society as a whole towards these people, who are estimated to make up around 10% of the country’s total population, is multiplied.

Especially for the disabled, their employment opportunities depend on a number of additional factors which are:

a) the type of disorders they have

(b) the specialised training to be provided to these persons by the State; and

(c) their acceptance by the local community.

The best and clearest possible picture of the actual situation of people with disabilities in relation to work and employment, by category (age, gender, etc.), would be an additional important tool for the formulation and implementation of policies for the vocational rehabilitation of these people and would be a decisive factor in the effectiveness of the measures to be implemented.

1. State intervention

In the field of employment of people with disabilities, it is only in the last 30 years that State interventions have begun to take shape. In 1979, with Law 963, in 1986 with Law 1648 and in 1998 with Law 2643. 2643.

With the last revision of the Constitution (Article 21, paragraph 5) a general reference to the rights of disabled people to equal opportunities is made and in 2004 the Community Directive 78/2000 on combating discrimination is incorporated into Greek law, where there is a clear reference to taking measures to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities.

However, we note that all legislative interventions of the State, related to the employment of disabled people are included in the social protection measures for other population groups, with the consequence that positive actions in favour of disabled people are diffused.

2. Main causes of unemployment of people with disabilities

We consider it useful, first of all, to summarise the main causes of the exclusion of people with disabilities from the labour market:

Social prejudice, with social racism, which, as a mindset, is still a structural characteristic of our society;

The lack, on the part of the State, of an integrated central planning, combining the needs of people with disabilities with education, vocational training and vocational guidance.

The changes taking place in the labour market, in new technologies and in the economic environment in general, without people with disabilities being assisted with the creation of the necessary support structures to enable them to integrate into the labour market.

Administrative bureaucracy in relation to the functioning of the mechanism of forced job placements. (e.g. Law 2643/98 on vacancy notices).

The lack of access infrastructure for people with disabilities, such as accessible buildings, transport and others, which means that people with disabilities are not facilitated to participate in social life.

In summary, the current reality is as follows:

The exclusion of disabled people from the labour market, particularly in recent years, has reached explosive proportions. According to estimates by the OECD, this figure is as high as 80%, while in the EU-15 countries it averages 50%.

The lack of a register of disabled people and the absence of individual databases for the processing of specific qualitative and quantitative data has meant that all the measures taken from time to time have been fragmentary.

The Ombudsman’s Report (June 2005) clearly describes the situation in the employment sector with regard to the implementation of Law 2643/1998 and administrative procedures in general.

In order to integrate disabled people into the labour market, our country has adopted the model of forced placements in jobs. However, social discrimination against people with disabilities by public and private sector enterprises is common.

As pointed out in the Ombudsman’s Report, a large number of disabled workers do not have sufficient information about the documents required for employment, so that applications are rejected due to lack of the necessary documents.

In particular, private sector companies systematically refuse to hire people with disabilities for jobs. Social prejudices, as well as inadequate vocational training, are the main reasons for refusing to recruit workers with disabilities.

At the same time, programmes funded by the European Union and the Greek State for vocational training and education have been developed and implemented throughout this period, through the three Community Support Frameworks.

However, it does not appear that these have so far contributed to their main objective, which is to reduce unemployment.

The lack of indicators for evaluating these programmes in terms of the results they produce has the direct consequence, on the one hand, of wasting resources and, on the other hand, of training of dubious quality and effectiveness.

Vocational guidance is practically absent from the activities of the bodies responsible for the rehabilitation of disabled people and the training programmes that are implemented do not meet the qualitative criteria necessary to offer the disabled people who participate in them adequate training to meet the needs of the labour market.

The integration of people with disabilities into the labour market is not an easy task, given the major problem of unemployment and a market that is constantly being :

increasingly competitive and with demands for a more and more highly qualified workforce, they face great difficulties in integrating into the labour market.

Some further observations to be made on the issues of labour integration and employment of people with disabilities include the following:

Central planning, on the part of the State, for the employment of disabled people, aimed at studying the labour market, the possibilities of rehabilitation of disabled people in professions they can effectively exercise, with the introduction of the disability register and the creation of parallel databases. It also highlights the regional dimension of the problem, which should be taken into account, taking into account the specific characteristics of each region.

There is a need to implement specific programmes to improve the living, education and employment conditions of people who are often victims of discrimination. These programmes should be designed and coordinated in a coherent way, while all general programmes (in the field of economic development, employment, urban development, etc.) should be considered in the light of their impact on vulnerable groups. It is also important to involve representatives of these groups in the design and implementation of these programmes.

Ensuring access for persons with disabilities to general measures for employment and integration into the labor market must not come at the expense of special measures designed specifically for their support.

The elimination of barriers to the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the labor market requires the removal of obstacles in other areas as well—such as compulsory education, vocational training, access to the information society, transportation, assistive technologies, the built environment, and more.

It is therefore clear that, in order to increase employment and reduce unemployment, the following are essential:

a human-centered approach to the unemployed, through the implementation of personalized support methods

the identification of the needs of both the unemployed and businesses, along with their integration and connection with the labor market, in order to create the most suitable conditions for an effective matching of labor supply and demand.

And while personalized support is a fundamental methodology for approaching the unemployed in general, for individuals belonging to vulnerable social groups, personalized support combined with integrated intervention is a necessary condition for their support and socio-economic inclusion.

In this direction, the Accompanying Support Services operate, where specialized counselors—such as Social Workers, Sociologists, and Psychologists—implement the personalized approach in order to assess the individual’s needs in relation to:

a) their specific needs for social and psychological support and empowerment,
b) their specific training needs, based on their level of knowledge and previous professional experience,

c) their level of readiness to be integrated into employment or self-employment programs.