Wage Cost-Reducing Policies and Employment Stability for People With Disabilities in the Spanish Labor Market

Abstract

The strategies for integrating people with disabilities into the labor market have evolved toward a social approach, in which the objective is the integration with stable and decent jobs. This article analyzes how persons with disabilities enter the ordinary labor market by studying the factors that strengthen stability in that process. In particular, it analyzes the incentives to hire workers by means of Social Security contribution deductions, a wage cost-reducing measure, and studies whether or not reduced contributions affects the hiring of people with disabilities in stable positions, thus promoting the possibility of decent and stable jobs. We focus on people with disabilities entering the job market for the first time during the period 2004 to 2011, using the Continuous Sample of Working Histories Database for Spain and using as a control group people without disabilities. The results obtained show that reduced social security contributions constitute an incentive that effectively encourages the entry of workers with a disability into the labor market by means of stable employment.

Social Economy, Gender Equality at Work and the 2030 Agenda: Theory and Evidence from Spain

“…SE also contributes significantly to the fight against the double discrimination faced by women with disabilities. They usually exhibit a lower participation in the labor market and poorer conditions than men [49,57]. Bearing this in mind, although active policies such as legal obligations (for instance quota requirements) or fiscal benefits can be key to the employment of workers with disabilities for both SE and profit-seeking firms [53,56], our work shows that SE principles might act amplifying the impact of these policies, making them more efficient.…”

“…In this regard, it is important to emphasize that since this is a counterfactual methodology, the main conclusion is that if the social economy lost its principles, women would have fewer opportunities to participate in the labor market, regardless of the productive specialization of the economy, since the control group has the same specialization and shows a lower participation of women. Women belonging to vulnerable groups may have twice the difficulty to access a job [49]. We will analyze the difference in participation of women over 55 years old with disabilities, and those with low qualifications.…”

Prácticas de desarrollo de carrera que favorecen la inclusión laboral de las personas con discapacidad

“…La disminución en los salarios es una constante en las personas con discapacidad, de acuerdo con las investigaciones que analizan la relación entre discapacidad y mercado de trabajo (Castro et al, 2020;Rodríguez, 2012). Una de las razones por la cual se paga menos es que se tiene el prejuicio de baja productividad a razón de la discapacidad (Lindsay et al, 2019).…”