Social inclusion is still ″a mirage in Portugal″
There are almost 20,400 civil servants with a degree of disability greater than 60%, representing 2.8% of public administration workers. The private sector employs 13,902 people with disabilities, according to the latest data from the Observatory of Disability and Human Rights (ODDH). The Government guarantees that it has no difficulty in motivating companies to hire people with disabilities.
The employment quota system for people with disabilities in Public Administration has existed for over 20 years. However, “inclusion is still a mirage in Portugal”, warns Gisela Valente, president of the Portuguese Association for the Disabled (APD).
Social inclusion will, in fact, be the topic under discussion by the Secretary of State for Equality and Migrations, Isabel Almeida Rodrigues, and the auxiliary bishop of Lisbon, D. Américo Aguiar, in the fourth session of the “Sustainability Dialogues”, an initiative of the Global Media Group and the INATEL Foundation.
The law of quotas, approved in 2001, defines that all external public tenders with more than ten vacancies must allocate 5% of vacancies to people with disabilities.
In the private sector, the law came into force in 2019, considering that companies with 75 to 249 workers have at least 1% of people with disabilities in their human resources staff, a quota that rises to 2% in the case of large companies (with 250 or more employees).
number to grow
The number of workers with disabilities has been rising over the years, but the numbers may not be synonymous with new hires. “In the private sector, the group that grew the most is between 45 and 65 years old. Most likely, we are witnessing the retention of workers who, in the meantime, have acquired disabilities”, explains Paula Campos Pinto, coordinator of the ODDH.
Since 2015, Associação Salvador has already helped 292 people with motor disabilities to be hired, through the “Destino: Emprego” project. “We are having many contacts from companies that have invested in training and are asking for this support. There is still a long way to go, but the process has been reversed. Now it is companies that turn to us because they want training to integrate people in the better way”, says Joana Frederico, project manager.
The transition period, from four to five years, for large companies to admit people with disabilities ends at the end of this month. In turn, the obligation will reach, from February 1st, companies with more than one hundred workers, being only extended to companies with 75 to 100 workers from February 1st, 2024.
To JN, the Secretary of State for Inclusion, Ana Sofia Antunes, stressed that this year the “hiring rule will be in full force, which will be a “boost” of incentive to companies”. Since 2020, the guardianship has received 990,000 proposals from companies.
For now, smaller companies are excluded. “Our business fabric is made up of 99.9% of micro, small and medium-sized companies. It is incomprehensible why this universe of potential employers of people with disabilities is excluded, especially when it is known that these companies develop greater proximity between employers and workers, promoting better integration”, said, in response to JN, Jorge Pisco, president of the Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
For the APD “the quota system is well established, it remains to be seen how the inspection will be”.
10.5% of the population has a disability
There are 1,085,472 people with a disability in Portugal, according to the 2021 Census.
Greater difficulty in accessing employment
Around 13,000 unemployed people with disabilities are enrolled in the IEFP, according to the Observatory of Disability and Human Rights. This number was 4.6% compared to 2020, but far from the 17% of the general population.
More women registered
Since 2011, more women with disabilities have been registered at job centres. The trend is opposite in men with the same situation, whose enrollments have been decreasing steadily since 2017.
Greater risk of poverty or social exclusion
The data show that 30.5% of people with disabilities, aged 16-64, are at risk of poverty or social exclusion against 18.8% of people without disabilities of the same age.
Debate tomorrow in Costa da Caparica
It is already tomorrow that the fourth of six “Sustainability Dialogues” takes place, a partnership between the Global Media Group and the INATEL Foundation, within the scope of the Sustainability and Society Forum, which also has as partners the Matosinhos Chamber, Galp, CGD and Grupo Bel. Dedicated to the theme “Social Inclusion”, it has the presence of the Secretary of State for Equality and Migration, Isabel Almeida Rodrigues, and Bishop Américo Aguiar, responsible for World Youth Day. You can watch it live, from 3 pm, on the websites of JN, DN, Dinheiro Vivo and TSF; or live (mandatory registration at jn.pt or dn.pt).