Costa Ricans with Disabilities Have Few Job Opportunities
By Luis Fernando Astorga Gatjens
A report issued by the Disability Unit of the Ministry of Work and Social Security of Costa Rica, reveals what is the reality of many persons with disabilities wanting to work. "People with disabilities have very few job options, this is still the situation six years after Costa Rica approved its Law 7600, Equal Opportunities Law for Persons with Disabilities."
According to the report by the Unit, which for a year has been promoting access to employment for disabled persons, there is a enormous gap between the general unemployment rate among the economically active population and the population of people with disabilities in working age.
In the last five years the unemployment rate has been about 6%. Mario Villalobos, Head of the National Employment Office, states that during 2001 the general underemployment rate was 6.1% in Costa Rica. In contrast, the underemployment rate among disabled persons is over 60%, according to the Household Poll, published on July of 1998 (Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Commerce, the National Directorate of Statistics and Census).
That statistical study has been the most accurate and specific effort conducted in our country to learn about the situation of persons with disabilities in Costa Rica. The 1998 House Poll established that 9.32% of our population presents a disability. The House Poll reported 311,554 as the number of persons with disabilities in our country.
The Disability Unit affirms that only 10 of every 100 persons with disabilities that request employment at the Placement Office obtain a job.
Questions raise as to what are the causes for such a high and persistent unemployment rate among the population of persons with disabilities, even after the passing of the Law 7600, Equal Opportunities Law for Persons with Disabilities, which indicates on article 22:
"The State will ensure that persons with disabilities of rural and urban areas have the right to an adequate job, considering their personal conditions and needs."
Looming Globalization
The steady advance of economical globalization has not constituted good news for unemployed persons with disabilities wanting to work. The omnipresence of more demanding qualifications greatly marks the disadvantages for a population sector that historically has been excluded from economicl and social development.
In the Costa Rican case neoliberal policies have slowed down the development of social programs which are needed to generate more productive employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
At the same time, the relative stagnancy of the Costa Rican economy of recent years has meant that the number of new jobs was not significantly increased. With this condition, both the increasing of job requirements and the stagnation in the demand for new positions, it becomes very difficult for a person with to compete and obtain a job if there are potential workers without disability applying for the same job position.
It seems that people with disabilities need to be more qualified in order to compete and become part to the labor force. Though there are qualified potential workers with disabilities, these are but a minority within this population group.
Discriminatory Environment
Public and private employers are very slow when it comes to hiring persons with disabilities. With respect to the private sector, we should indicate that there are some dispositions within the Costa Rican Tax Law which benefit, in the form of tax exemptions, companies hiring persons with disabilities, yet they are not being used.
Even though prejudice and underestimation affect every sphere of social activity, those effects become more notorious and dramatic in the fields of economic and production relations. Would any Head of Human Resources manifesting negative opinions regarding disability hire a person with disabilities?
The idea is to hire persons with disabilities, not because of feelings of sorrow or sympathy, but considering the proven capacity, experience and skills of the candidate. We are just demanding equal opportunities for employment, so that the candidates have an effective chance to be productive and to develop personally.
Weak Training
Another factor influencing the low demand for workers with disabilities deals with the quality of training offered to persons with disabilities.
As a logical consequence of historical discrimination and limited access to education and technical training, in general, the labor profiles of persons with disabilities are too low for them to be readily hired. Obviously, this makes it difficult for a wide sector of persons with disabilities to access job positions.
Advances in this field are still small. Though the Law 7600 guarantees the right to education for persons with disabilities, when it comes to the real availability and impact of training, opportunities for adults and young persons with disabilities continue to be limited.
"Occasionally, I have interviewed persons with disabilities that come to our Ministry of Labor seeking for help at getting a job, because the type of their disability does not allow them to perform hard work and because of their low educational and technical training levels they do not qualify for many job positions available. This combination of factors makes finding appropriate employment so difficult." These are the words of Florizul Aguilar, who works at the Ministry of Labor Disability Unit.
Other Accessibility Difficulties
In Costa Rica, the other serious problem affecting the lack of equal employment opportunities for persons with disabilities has to do with inaccessible physical and architectural spaces, including the lack of accessible public transportation throughout the whole country.
This lack of accessible public transportation effects potential works with disabilities, even before they are interviewed or hire. On the other hand, many work environments, including plants, buildings and offices have not included the necessary provisions that would enable visitors and workers with disabilities to enter and move about, including the possibility to use the services provided for the rest of visitors and workers without.
This set of factors intensify and complicate the placement of many persons with disabilities in the job market. Our mission is to foster employment for persons with disabilities so they are able to generate income for themselves, their families and even their employers, but also so they are able to practice their trade or profession, improve their quality of life, reaffirm their independence, contribute with the development of the country, and even become taxpayers and not victims of welfare.
The report ends with the following statement: "The Law 7600 contemplates the right of persons with disabilities to participate more fully in the development. This is particularly true with respect to employment and productive life, where exclusion and discrimination pose so many challenges. The only way for each person with disabilities to advance in her or his conditions of living is to comply with the law, and to ensure access to education, physical space, public transportation and to employment for all."
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