What is needed to help minority ethnic youth and young adults with
disabilities access the labour market and find permanent jobs? How
efficient are political measures? These are questions both politicians
and policy makers want answers to. That was also the aim of the Nordic
project commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers Labour Market
Committee.
Since the 1990s the Nordic countries have introduced new
legislation, economic incentives and voluntary agreements to promote
inclusion in the labour market. Yet in the report ‘New Policies to
Promote Youth Inclusion’, the Nordic group of researchers who have
followed developments in the decade since the year 2000 conclude that
the policies have actually led to greater inequality rather than
improved inclusion into working life.
“There is little doubt that a great number of young people with
disabilities have been practically excluded from gainful employment in
the Nordic countries,” says the head of the project, Rune Halvorsen
from the Oslo and Akershus University College.
The debate in Norway has centred on whether it becomes easier for
people to enter the labour market if you relax rules on temporary
employment. The researchers have not found anything that indicates that
temporary employment makes the labour market more inclusive.
“Denmark has the most flexible labour market in the Nordic region,
but does not do better than any of the other Nordic countries in this
area. On the contrary, it looks like Denmark is doing worse than Sweden
when it comes to including disabled youth into working life,” says Rune
Halvorsen.
Together with his colleague Professor Bjørn Hvinden, he has worked
with researchers from all of the Nordic countries and gathered data
from Eurostat, from the countries’ own statistics agencies as well as
carrying out their own surveys.
Fewer in work
“Between 2002 and 2011 employment among youth with disabilities in
the Nordic region has not improved in line with the rest of the young
population, Sweden being the exception. Denmark has had the most
remarkable development, with an eight percent fall in employment,” says
Rune Halvorsen, highlighting statistics from Eurostat LFS.
When it comes to employment among youth with disabilities, he
divides the Nordic region into two groups. In Denmark and Norway
employment has fallen, in Sweden and Finland it has remained
unchanged.
Increased difference
The same picture emerges when the researchers compare results for
youth with and without disabilities. In Denmark and Norway the
employment rate among youth with disabilities is lower than that for
young people without physical handicaps. This difference has increased
further over the past decade, and the increase has been greater in
Denmark than in Norway. In Sweden and Finland things have remained the
same.
Between 2005 and 2011 Denmark, Finland and Iceland have seen a very
similar development. Employment among young people has fallen. In
Iceland and Denmark employment has fallen among people with
disabilities and particularly among those with chronic illness which
limits their daily activities.
This difference in the employment rate between youth with
disabilities and youth with serious chronic illnesses increased further
towards 2011. Norway has seen the same development, to a slightly
lesser degree, and the difference between youth with less serious and
serious disabilities has not had the same accelerating development but
remained stable.
Sweden stands out
The general trend between 2005 and 2011 for youth with disabilities
has been that employment has fallen or remained stable, but Sweden
stands out. There the employment rate among youth with disabilities has
increased in this period, especially among youth with serious, chronic
illnesses.
Fewer in education
The Nordic countries have also seen different developments when it
comes to education. In Denmark and Finland fewer youth with
disabilities were in education between 2002 and 2011 compared to youth
without disabilities. The differences have increased over the past
decade. The same goes for Norway. The differences have not increased in
the same period, but remained quite stable. Here too Sweden stands out,
with more youth with disabilities in education, and the difference
between youth with and without disabilities has fallen.
Things are different for youth with serious disabilities. The
education rate among youth with serious disabilities has risen in
Denmark, particularly between 2008 and 2011, while the opposite has
happened in Sweden, where the increase in employment has been
bigger.
Young outsiders – NEET
“We see no signs of improvement here,” says project leader Rune
Halvorsen about the NEET group.
The number of people not in employment, education or training has
remained stable between 2000 and 2010 in all of the Nordic countries,
according to the Eurostat LFS disability ad hoc module. When in comes
to youth with disabilities, the number of NEETs has risen in Denmark
and Norway, while it has remained stable in Finland and fallen in
Sweden. There is little difference between youth with our without
disabilities in Sweden, while the difference is particularly big in
Iceland.
Minority youths
When it comes to minority ethnic youth, the situation is more
complicated. It looks like the chance of getting a job has improved for
this group in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. The number of NEETs has also
fallen, especially in Finland and Denmark, where many have continued
their education. In Norway the employment rate has remained unchanged,
but more have entered into education.
Policies with poor result
There has been a change in Nordic policies from economic
redistribution to political measures aimed at including more youth with
disabilities and minority ethnic youth into the labour market. The
result has been more inequality rather than more integration.
“It does not look like political reforms in the Nordic countries
have increased employment opportunities for youth with disabilities. On
the contrary, many have been excluded from the labour market.”
Better statistics needed
“But we need better, comparable statistics,” says Rune
Halvorsen.
“Eurostat recommends a joint definition for all the countries, but
the definitions are being adapted in national surveys.
“There are, for instance, different definitions of ‘employment’. In
Denmark apprenticeships are considered employment, but this is not the
case in the other Nordic countries.
“When it comes to disabilities it is difficult to know what is
considered to be a serious disability, and it is unclear whether the
same questions are being asked over time.”
Employers afraid of hiring
The researchers have highlighted mechanisms which enable or prevent
the labour market aspects for the two youth groups. Interviews with
employers have unveiled that they fear minority ethnic youth and youth
with disabilities will stand out too much and not fit in at work, and
that this could influence workplace culture. Rather than recognise
their responsibility, they fear increased costs.
The transition from education to work is particularly
challenging.
What works?
These are complex processes which demand complex solutions. We have
looked at a wide spectre of measures in order to reach these groups,”
says project leader Rune Halvorsen.
