Disability and employment in the Nordic Countries

Including disabled people into the ordinary labor market has been an important goal within disability policy in most European Countries, as well as in the EU. However, representing around one sixth of the overall EU working age population, their employment is low compare to the non disabled population. Disabled people are almost twice as likely to be left out of the labor market as non-disabled people. In Norway, the employment rate among disabled people has remained unchanged over the last 10 years, although increased access to employment represents an important political goal. Many argue that the main way to increase the employment rate among disabled people is to strengthen their access to education. In this paper we explore the relations between education, disability and employment in three Nordic countries, compared with the average EU 15.