Labour market and disability

1. General characteristics of the active population with disability

In 2023, there were almost two million people aged 16-64 with a recognised disability (1,946,800), representing 6.2% of the total working age population. Compared to the previous year, this represented an increase of 4,000 persons with disabilities (0.2% more).

Of this population, 690,600 were active, 0.8% higher than 2022. This increase was smaller than in the non-disabled population, which increased by 2.1%. Within the active population with disabilities, a greater percentage of men, most predominantly in the 45 to 64 age group, there was less representation of highly educated persons as compared to the active population without disability.

It is therefore essential to be aware of the working environment in which they find themselves. In order to have a proper focus, we start by assessing the activity, employment and unemployment in relation to non-disabled people, all for the last three years, which take 2021 as the reference year.

2. Evolution of the activity, employment and unemployment rates

Both the activity and employment rate showed growth in recent years, with employment growing more markedly. Among persons with disabilities, employment increased by 0.9% between 2021 and 2022, and by 0.8% between 2022 and 2023. The increase was higher among the non-disabled, with rises of 1.8% and 1.1% in the same periods. The increase in activity was concentrated in employment, which led to a reduction in unemployment, namely a decrease for people with disabilities of 0.8% from 2021 to 2022, and 1.9% from 2022 to 2023. This reduction was also evident for non-disabled people, with the number of unemployed persons decreasing by 1.9% from 2021 to 2022, and by 0.9% from 2022 to 2023.

3. Población activa según el sexo

La diferencia entre la tasa de actividad masculina y la femenina en la población con discapacidad era del 0,7%. Esta diferencia no era tan pronunciada como en el colectivo sin discapacidad (del 9,2%).

Para la tasa de empleo sucedía lo mismo, los hombres con empleo eran mayoría frente a las mujeres. En aquellos que presentaban una discapacidad la diferencia resultaba menor (0,3%) que en los que no la presentaban (10,8%).

En lo relativo a la tasa de paro sucedía algo diferente. En la población con discapacidad las tasas eran muy parejas (0,5% más de parados hombres), pero en el caso del colectivo sin discapacidad la tasa de las mujeres era un 3,3% mayor).

4. Active population by age group

Overall, activity and employment grew progressively over the years, while unemployment declined.

For younger persons with disabilities, activity and employment managed to make a considerable jump from 2021 to 2022 (+4.8% and +4.4%, respectively), although the trend could not be maintained in the following year and suffered a small decline from 2022 to 2023 (-3.1% and -0.7%, respectively). The striking difference between 2021 and 2022 was also reflected in the unemployment rate, which fell by 10.2% for people with disabilities and 5.4% for people without disabilities.

For middle-aged and older people, there was steady growth with no big leaps from one year to the next. Unemployment also declined slightly year on year. In all three cases, the jump from 2021 to 2022 was not as striking in this group.

5. Activity and inactivity by employment status

Focusing on people with disabilities, we present a segmentation of the active population structured in two levels. At the first or internal level, which corresponds to the main division, 28.5% are employed, 7.0% are unemployed and 64.5% are inactive.

In the second or external level, each category is detailed: within the employed, 25.8% are salaried workers and 2.7% are self-employed. For the unemployed category, 6.4% had previously worked and 0.6% were waiting for their first job. As for the inactive category, it is made up of 31.8% of people with a disability that prevents them from working, 19.1% of retirees, 6.1% who are engaged in housework, 4.9% of students and 2.6% who are in another situation of inactivity.

6. Active population by autonomous community

Looking at the activity rates by autonomous community, it can be seen that the Canary Islands, Andalusia, Galicia and the Principality of Asturias have the lowest values among people with disabilities. In these regions, less than one in three people in this group participates in the labour market, indicating a more limited entry into the labour market.

On the other hand, the Basque Country, Cantabria and Castilla y León stand out. In these communities, more than four out of ten people with disabilities take part in the work environment.

7. Activity by type of disability

People whose disability makes it less difficult for them to be active in the labour market are those with disabilities in the "Auditory System" (61.3% of those with disabilities are active), in the "Digestive, Metabolic and Endocrine System" (49.4%) and in the "Osteoarticular System" (43.7%).

However, the people whose disability makes it most difficult for them to access the labour market are those with "Mental" (27.4%), "Intellectual" (33.8%) and "Neuromuscular System" (35.8%) disabilities.

In relation to these types of disability, the ones that have increased the most since 2022 were the Cardiovascular, Immune and Respiratory System (+6.4%), the Digestive, Metabolic and Endocrine System (+5.3%) and the Visual System (+4.3%).

The disabilities that decreased the most were Intellectual (-2.5%), Mental (-1.9%) and Osteoarticular (-0.4%).

8. Activity by degree of disability

The activity rate varies according to the degree of disability: the lower the degree of disability, the higher the probability of being employed. People with a recognised degree between 33% and 44% are the only ones with an activity rate above 50%.

With regard to the annual evolution, there is a notable increase observed in the group with a degree of disability between 65% and 74%, whose activity rate increased by more than one point between 2022 and 2023.

Perspective of people with a job

9. Employed according to their professional status

If we compare the employment structure between people with and without disabilities, there are some notable differences.

Firstly, among salaried workers, the proportion of people with disabilities (90.5%) exceeds that of the rest of the population (85.1%). This difference is partly due to a greater presence in public employment: 22.9% of employees with disabilities work in the public sector, compared to 16.4% of those without disabilities.

On the other hand, self-employment is more frequent among people without disabilities, both among employers (4.6% compared to 2.9%) and among those without employees (9.8% compared to 6.1%).

10. Type of contract according to gender

In the disabled population, permanent contracts show a slight male predominance (56.4%). This difference does not exist for this population in the case of temporary contracts.

11. Type of working day according to gender

In part-time contracts, there is a clear female predominance, both among disabled and non-disabled people, although with varying intensity.

Among the non-disabled population, women represent 74.8% of those working part-time, while in the disabled population this proportion falls to 57.3%. Despite this decline, the feminisation of part-time work remains a prominent feature in both groups.

On the other hand, men are more likely than women to work full-time.

12. Type of contract by age group

The large number of people with disabilities between 45 and 64 years of age with an permanent contract stands out, at over 70%, while in the non-disabled group it is close to 50%. Moreover, the proportion of permanent contracts is low for people with disabilities aged 25-44 and very low for younger people.

Temporary contracts are more common among the two younger age groups, both in the disabled and non-disabled population. However, this trend is more evident among the non-disabled, where those under 45 years of age account for nearly 70% of temporary contracts.

13. Type of working day by age group

Among people with disabilities, the split between part-time and full-time workers is fairly even. In both cases, the majority is concentrated in the 45-64 age group, which accounts for about 70% of the total. On the other hand, the presence of young people is very low: among those who work part-time, only 6% are under 25 years of age, a proportion that drops to 2% in the case of full-time workers.

14. Employed by activity sector

The service sector is the most representative in both groups, being slightly higher for those with a disability (82.2% compared to 76.1%). This difference means that people without disabilities are slightly more common in the other sectors, the biggest difference being in construction, where 3.6% of people with disabilities and 6.8% of people without disabilities are employed.

15. Employment by duration of work contract

There is scant difference between people with and without disabilities in terms of contract duration. However, there is a slightly higher concentration of long-term contracts among those with disabilities: 68.7% of this group have contracts of three years or more, compared to 66.4% among the non-disabled population.

The salaries received by this group

16. Average earnings. General data

In 2022, the gross annual salary of men with disabilities was, on average, 6,700 euros lower than that of men without disabilities. This difference translates into 3.4 euros less per hour worked.

For women, the difference was also significant: the annual salary was on average 3,500 euros less, implying a gap of 1.9 euros per hour compared to women without disabilities.

17. Gross annual salary

The wage distribution was similar in both groups, although in the case of people with disabilities a larger percentage of workers was concentrated in the lower wages. In general, although the differences between the wage levels of people with and without disabilities were significant, they decreased as the wage level increased.

18. Wage earnings according to the demographic characteristics of the worker

By sex, the average salary of disabled women was 20,898.9 euros per worker per year, while for men it was 22,938.4 euros. The salary of women was, therefore, 8.9% lower than that of men, a smaller difference than in the case of the population without disability, which was 17.4% lower.

By age group, the largest difference in the disability group was found for people aged 30-44, who received 24.4% less than people in the same age group without disabilities.

19. Wage earnings by type of disability and gender

The data reflects a gender pay gap within the disability community, especially visible among people with "Sensory" disabilities.

If average gross earnings are analysed according to the type of disability, without distinguishing by gender, the lowest wage levels are recorded among those with "Intellectual" or "Mental" disabilities.

20. Wage earnings by degree of disability and gender

Wages tend to be higher among people with lower degrees of recognised disability. In the case of men with more than 45% disability, they have a gross annual salary of slightly more than 20,000 euros, while it does not reach this figure for women with these degrees of disability, being on average between 18,000 and 20,000 euros per year.

The benefits received because of their disability

21. Benefits according to degree of disability

The probability of receiving a pension increases proportionally to the severity of the disability.

In the group with the lowest degree of disability, more than half of the people do not receive any kind of pension (53.9%), compared to 46.1% who do.In the next degree, the situation is reversed, with 55.9% of people receiving a pension and 44.1% who do not.

In the next degree, the situation is reversed, with 55.9% of people receiving a pension and 44.1% who do not.

In the two highest degrees of severity, this trend continues, and approximately three out of four people with more than 65% disability have a pension, reflecting the greater extent of their limitations.

22. Benefits according to the type of disability

Persons with "Mental" and "Physical and other" disabilities tend to receive disability pensions in higher proportions than other groups, although the "Intellectual" disability group shows similar figures.

In contrast, more than half of those with a "Sensory" disability do not receive any pension at all, with only 28.5% receiving a benefit related to this limitation.

23. Type of relationship with social security

In 2022, 76.7% of people with disabilities had a relationship with Social Security exclusively through the receipt of a contributory pension, compared to 20.6% of people without disabilities.

In addition, only 10.8% of people with disabilities were exclusively registered for work at least one day during the year, compared to 61.3% of the non-disabled group who were registered for work at least one day during the year.

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