Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong asked the Minister for Social andFamily Development (a) what is the median income for persons with disabilities (“PWD”) over the last ten years; (b) what is the employment rate of PWDs over the last ten years; and
(c) what is the progress rate of the Ministry’s programmes that are focused on accessibility of training and employment opportunities for PWDs.
Answer
The annual Comprehensive Labour Force Survey
started collecting data on the employment outcomes of persons with disabilities in 2018. The average resident employment rate for persons with disabilities aged 15 - 64 rose from 28.2% for the period of 2018 - 2019, to 30.1% for 2020 - 20211.
Between the two periods, the nominal median gross monthly income from work (including employer CPF) of full-time employed resident persons with disabilities aged 15 - 64 rose by 4.0% from $2,630 to $2,735, or 2.7% after adjusting for inflation.
2 The Open Door Programme (ODP), administered by SG Enable, encourages employers to hire, train and integrate persons with disabilities into the workplace through grants and employment support services. Under the ODP, persons with disabilities
receive transitional support into open employment to help them gain independence in the workforce. The ODP provides persons with disabilities with support in recruitment, matching to suitable jobs and customised post-placement support from trained
job coaches for up to one year. Grants under the ODP support the cost of job redesign, and courses to prepare employers and their employees to interact, hire, integrate and retain employees with disabilities in their organisation. Between 2014 and
2021, SG Enable and its job placement partners helped to place over 3,500 clients in employment, or about 500 placements per year on average. Over the same period, about 600 organisations participated in training to learn skills on how to recruit
and integrate persons with disabilities at their workplace.
3 Persons with disabilities can also tap on the ODP Training Grant, which provides training allowance and enhanced course fee subsidies, to attend training courses to develop new
and existing skillsets and boost their employability. Between 2014 and 2021, SG Enable and its partners trained more than 2,800 persons with disabilities.
4 To provide targeted employment support for persons with disabilities amid the pandemic,
SG Enable introduced three new programmes under the National Jobs Council – Place-and-Train, Attach and-Train, and Skills Development Programme – to provide customised employment, traineeships and skills upgrading opportunities last year.
Close to 300 job and training opportunities have been created for persons with disabilities under these programmes.
5 SG Enable also launched the Enabling Mark in 2020, the first-of-its kind national accreditation for disability-inclusive
employers, to provide employers with a framework for continual improvement. As of 30 June 2022, 91 organisations have received the accreditation so far. Beyond recognition, the efforts that get employers accredited with the Enabling Mark lay the groundwork
for greater workplace disability inclusion so that persons with disabilities are treated fairly and equitably with career growth opportunities in the future.
6 The Government also supports employers of persons with disabilities with the
Enabling Employment Credit (EEC), which provides them with wage offsets of up to 30% for each Singaporean employee with disabilities earning below $4,000 per month. In 2021, close to 6,400 employers hired more than 9,700 persons with disabilities
with support from the EEC.
7 Employers who expand local hiring may also be eligible for wage support under the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI). Based on latest available data, more than 3,400 persons with disabilities were hired between September
2020 and November 2021 with support from the JGI. The Ministry of Manpower has extended the JGI by another six months to March 2023.
8 MSF will continue to work with other public agencies and our community partners to increase the accessibility
of training and employment opportunities to persons with disabilities.
1The Comprehensive Labour Force Survey data is collected annually, and statistics on persons with disabilities is generated by taking the average of two years. The use of two year moving averages is to smoothen out year on year fluctuations due to the relatively small number of persons with disabilities.