Inclusion on the labor market: politics must finally act!

Inclusion on the labor market: politics must finally act!

The professional inclusion of people with disabilities is becoming increasingly pressing and is now a central topic for politics and society. Christina Schneyder, the managing director of Austria, emphasizes that non-binding announcements are no longer sufficient. "People with disabilities need real opportunities on the job market, and politics has to actively create them," says Schneyder. The problem is clear: Despite the ratification of the UN Disabled Rights Convention in 2008, there are many barriers that make access to the labor market for people with disabilities. According to the reports of the there-structural reforms and sustainable financing are crucial to enable real participation.

The new federal government has announced important measures in the government program 2025-2029 to strengthen the rights of people with disabilities. This includes the introduction of regular wages for employees in workshops and the reduction of bureaucratic hurdles in order to make support services more easily accessible. Nevertheless, as Eva Skergeth-Lopic notes from Austria, the will for inclusion may not only exist in the public sector. "There is no incentive for the private sector to offer people with disabilities fair opportunities," she warns. It takes more determination to not only declare inclusion as a goal, but to make them reality.

measures for the inclusive labor market

Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil recently announced far -reaching measures to promote jobs. Actually, there is no longer any reason to leave the potential of around 166,000 people with disabilities unused. "To change that, we make the job market more inclusive with targeted measures," says Heil in his speech. In the future, employers who are legally obliged to employ severely disabled people will pay a higher compensation tax if they do not do so. The funds from this tax should then be used directly to promote the employment of people with disabilities.

In addition, the approval fiction for the claims of the integration office is introduced. This means that applications are considered approved in the future if the integration office does not decide on it within six weeks. The budget for work is a central measure to improve professional integration, which provides permanent support in wage costs for employers. This is intended to help people with disabilities to be integrated more easily and more easily into the general labor market, such as Federal Government.de

Overall, it can be seen that both social and political responsibility for the professional inclusion of people with disabilities are considered essential. Laws and measures are a step in the right direction, but to make sustainable changes, a clear political will and overcoming existing mental barriers are required.