A flexible working life, including remote and hybrid work, is highlighted as being key to improve job opportunities for people with disabilities.
Read this article in Norwegian on Arbeidsliv i Norden
This was also the theme for the webinar “Disability, Remote Work and Flexible Working Life” held on 23 April this year, organised by NIVA Education together with the Nordic Welfare Centre.
The webinar formed part of the project “Inclusive Working Life – a Future Issue for the Nordic Region”. This is financed by the Labour Market Committee under the Nordic Committee of Senior Officials for Labour.
The webinar presented three recent Nordic reports looking at flexible work solutions and remote work from different perspectives.
One of the speakers was Dan-Olof Rooth, professor of economics at Stockholm University.
“Remote working significantly increases the employment rate among people with disabilities,” he concluded.
Rooth referred to a study showing that up to four in five new jobs for people with disabilities can be put down to an increase in remote work.
The report builds on US data, but Rooth believes the results are also relevant for the Swedish labour market.
LINK: Remote Work and Employment among People with Disabilities
At the webinar, he highlighted the data they do have in Sweden. In the survey, carried out before the COVID-19 pandemic, 58 per cent of unemployed people said they could be working if they were offered some of the following:
- Reduced hours
- Adapted tasks
- Adapted hours
- Adapted facilities
- Personal support
- Help to get to work
He ended with the following advice to politicians:
- Encourage employers to allow for hybrid work
- Develop an inclusive digital infrastructure
- Develop flexibility in occupations that do not allow for working from home
Rooth is also one of the authors of the report “Working life for all? An ESO report on the labour market for people with disabilities” (link in Swedish).
This was published a few days after the webinar and shows that the untapped labour potential in Sweden among people with disabilities is nearly 200 000 workers.
