Nearly three in 10 persons with disabilities who are of working age are employed, Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad told Parliament this week.
The resident employment rate was 28.6 per cent among persons with disabilities in the working ages of 15 to 64, Mr Zaqy said as part of his response to a Parliamentary question by Member of Parliament Chong Kee Hiong regarding employment rates of the disabled.
Another 4.2 per cent of persons with disabilities in this age range were without a job and actively looking for one, translating to a resident unemployment rate of 12.9 per cent.
“The remaining two-thirds of persons with disabilities in this age group were outside the labour force, with most of them citing poor health or disability as the main reason,” added Mr Zaqy.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has started collecting data on the employment outcomes of persons with disabilities through the annual Comprehensive Labour Force Survey, and data is available from 2018 onwards.
The sectors employing the most resident PWDs are community, social and personal services, food services, administrative and support services and manufacturing, which together account for more than half of persons with disabilities employment.
