Disability, Unemployment, and Inequality: A Cross-Country Comparison of the Situation of Persons With Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

Unemployment and inequality are growing concerns that disproportionately affect people with disabilities. We compared unemployment rates and barriers to labor market participation for persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) as an exemplary case of disability with different socioeconomic positions and from a cross-national perspective across 20 countries worldwide. We showed that persons with SCI have much higher unemployment rates than the general population. While this situation is many times worse for those in low-income groups, persons with SCI in high-income groups are often in a position comparable to the general population. The main barriers to entering the labor market are health status, the impossibility of finding suitable jobs, and the lack of information about employment opportunities. This is the first study that quantifies the extent of inequality in the labor market for persons with SCI. Across the 20 countries analyzed, facing disability has a much higher impact on those in low-income groups. This reality is explained by the fact that people in lower-income groups face many more barriers to entering the labor market than those in higher-income groups.