People with disabilities: severely disabled people are potential against a shortage of skilled workers

The Federal Employment Agency sees potential in the fight against the shortage of skilled workers in the approximately 180,000 unemployed in Germany. Severely disabled workers are better trained on average than the entirety of the employee, said Daniel Terzenbach, board member of the Federal Agency, the German Press Agency.

More than eight million severely disabled people

In total, more than eight million people with severe disabilities lived in Germany, almost 50 percent are 65 years and older. “This is not a marginal phenomenon, but an issue in the middle of society,” said Terzenbach. “Many people do not know that almost 90 percent of the severity disabilities arise from illness, only the smallest part is innate.”

The proportion of employed severely disabled people is currently 51.4 percent – around ten points more than 20 years ago. Compared to the total population, however, there is still a lot of air – there is 80 percent. “We have already taken a good step forward. But there is still a large gap to the total population,” emphasized the labor market expert.

11.6 percent unemployment rate

According to the statistics of the Federal Agency of the Federal Agency, 175,000 people with severe disabilities were registered unemployed on the annual average – an increase of six percent compared to the previous year. Almost half of them are older than 55 years. The increase in the total population was seven percent. The unemployment rate is 11.6 percent among severely disabled people – compared to 7.3 percent among the total population.

At the same time, the economy urgently needs specialists in many areas. “In the long perspective forward, the lack of work and skilled workers is the largest growth brake. Demography is our greatest enemy,” said Terzenbach. People with disabilities are in the starting blocks here.

However, the labor market has to clean up with false information. “There are myths on the job market that just don’t vote,” he said. One of these myths is that severely disabled people – once set – could not be released again.