Disability and the Labor Market in Latin America
By Gonzalo Hernández Licona, Department of Economics, ITAM (paper submitted to the annual conference of the Inter-American Development Bank, Chile, March 2001)
3. Results
In this section we will estimate the incidence of disability in some Latin American countries, and also the relationship between disability and the labor market, using various household surveys. As we said before, most household surveys do not identify the person as disabled, unless he is not employed. Therefore the analysis of the labor market cannot be done with these countries. Nevertheless, we will present in the first part of this section the incidence of disability on some of these countries to stress the need to have similar definitions and similar questionnaires in all countries to capture this variable. In the second part, we will analyze disability in Brazil, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the only countries for which we can link disability to the labor market.
3.1 Incidence of disability among the non-employed population
We will start this section, analyzing the incidence of disability in Latin America using household surveys for Panama, Peru, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Honduras and Bolivia, countries for which it is impossible to identify a disabled person if he is employed. We will therefore estimate the incidence of disability for the non-employed population, stressing the fact that differences in the structure and quality of the questions may change the estimations considerably.
Montes (2001) found that percentages differ significantly for these countries, as shown in Tables 1 and 2. This is explained by the following:
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The differences in meaning between the words "incapacitado" and "discapacitado" in Spanish, make it difficult to compare data across surveys.
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The sentence construction for the specific question asked generates differences between surveys.
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If the set of options to choose from in the answer is different across countries, independence of irrelevant alternatives is violated when comparing surveys. The surveys' labor module only considers the subset of those individuals that are participating in the labor force at the time of the survey. Due to the fact that women in general participate less than men, the labor module information makes us wrongly infer that disability incidence is lower in women.
Table 1
Reasons for Not Working - Share Reporting "incapacidad" of the population between 25-55 years of age who are not employed
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|
Men
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Panama 1999
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12.17%
|
|
Peru 1997
|
3.54
|
|
Mexico 1996
|
15.06
|
|
Chile 1998
|
14.61
|
|
Women
|
|
Panama 1999
|
1.22%
|
|
Peru 1997
|
1.46
|
|
Mexico 1996
|
1.06
|
|
Chile 1998
|
3.52
|
|
Source: Montes, A. (2001), Social Information System SIS, Research Department, Inter American Development Bank, page 3.
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Table 2
Share Reporting "yes, disabled" of the Population 25-55 Years of Age
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|
Men
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Argentina 1996
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4.59%
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|
Uruguay 1998
|
17.27%
|
|
Honduras 1999
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16.83%
|
|
Costa Rica 1998
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16.79%
|
|
Bolivia 1999
|
7.54%
|
|
Women
|
|
Argentina 1996
|
0.94%
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Uruguay 1998
|
3.17%
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|
Honduras 1999
|
1.38%
|
|
Costa Rica 1998
|
2.25%
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|
Bolivia 1999
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1.64%
|
|
Source: Montes, A. (2001), Social Information System SIS, Research Department, Inter American Development Bank, page 4.
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3.2 Disability and the labor market
The household surveys from Brazil in 1981, Nicaragua in 1993 and Costa Rica in 1998 are the only ones where we can estimate the incidence of disability for the whole population. However, only in the Nicaraguan survey is possible to detect the specific physical disability the individual suffers from.
In Table 3 we can see again that the percentage of disabled people varies dramatically between these three countries.
Table 3
Disabled Population (Percentage of Total Population)
|
|
|
Men
|
Women
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Total
|
|
Brazil a
|
2.08
|
1.48
|
1.78%
|
|
Costa Rica b
|
5.70%
|
5.48
|
5.59%
|
|
Nicaragua c
|
11.86
|
12.97
|
12.42%
|
a. Brazil, 1981
b. Costa Rica, 1998
c. Nicaragua, 1993
Source: Social Information System SIS, Inter-American Development Bank.
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Although the incidence of disability may change between countries due to economic and institutional factors, the difference we find between Brazil, Nicaragua and Costa Rica is better explained when we observe the specific questions in each survey.
For Brazil, the survey asks the following:
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Portuguese question
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English translation
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Qual a deficiência ou incapacidade que vôce tem?
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What type of deficiency or incapacity do you have?
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1. Cegueira
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Blindness
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2. Surdez
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Deafness
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3. Surdo-mudez
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Deaf-muteness
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4, Retardamento ou doença mental
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Retardation or insanity
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5. Falta de algum membro ou parte dele
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Partial or total mutilation / amputation in any part of the body
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6. Paralisia total ou das duas pernas
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Total paralysis or paralysis of both legs
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7. Paralisia de um lado (1 braço e/ou 1 perna)
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Paralysis in one side of the body (1 arm or one leg)
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8. Outro tipo de incapacidade ou paralisia
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Other type of incapacity or paralysis
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In Costa Rica the number of disabled people increases relatively, because in the survey the definition is broader, as we can see here:
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Spanish question
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English translation
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¿Alguna persona de este hogar presenta una o varias deficiencias que le impidan o dificulten, permanentemente, realizar sus actividades cotidianas?
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Does anybody in this household have one or several deficiencies that permanently prevent or make difficult for him/her to perform his/her daily activities?
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1. Ceguera parcial o total
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Total or partial blindness
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2. Sordera parcial o total
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Total or partial deafness
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3. Parálisis cerebral o de extremidades
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Arm, leg or brain paralysis
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4. Amputación
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Amputation
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5. Retardo mental
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Retardation
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6. Trastorno mental
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Mental unbalance
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7. Otro
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Other
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Finally in Nicaragua, the survey's main question asks if the person has a disability, and then in the second question they inquire what specific problem does the person have. The possible answers to the question What type of disability do you have? are:
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Type of disability
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Categories
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Hearing problem
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Deaf
Serious hearing problem
Mild hearing loss
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Speech problem
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Mute
Difficulty
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Sight problem
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Blind
Blind in one eye
Difficulty, no glasses
Difficulty, glasses
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Movement problem
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Cannot walk-move alone
Limited or no use of arm(s)
Limited or no use of leg(s)
Cannot move one side of the body
Involuntary movements
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Deformity
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Loss of both legs/arms
Loss of both or one arm
Loss of both or one leg
Loss of one leg and one arm
Deformed head/face
Deformed arms
Deformed legs
Deformed torso
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Mental problem
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Retarded
Psychological trauma
Insane
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Attack or convulsions
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|
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Hearing and speech
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Deaf-mute
Mild hearing/speech loss
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Various
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The differences we can find in the questions and the design of the questionnaire are very important to explain the differences in the incidence of disability in the three countries. The definition of disability is very narrow in Brazil, extremely broad in Nicaragua and intermediate in Costa Rica.
The best example is how the three countries classify differently a person with sight problems. In Brazil the survey considers a person disabled only if he is totally blind, in Costa Rica the individual is disabled if he is totally or partially blind, but in Nicaragua a disabled person may be someone with myopia who uses glasses! Personally I would not be classified as disabled in Brazil but I definitely would be in Nicaragua. It is not surprising then, that the incidence of disability is rather high in Nicaragua and surprisingly low in Brazil.
For this paper's purposes, it is fortunate that we have these three types of surveys, because we can analyze how the relationship between disability and other variables change, when we have a very restricted or a very broad definition of disability.
The Nicaraguan survey is of course richer than the ones in Brazil and Costa Rica, because it includes more categories that, in a broad sense, make a person disabled. The survey is also flexible, since each researcher is able to select only the exact categories he would like to focus on. In this research however, we will consider disabled all those reported disabled in each country's survey.
3.2.1 Personal characteristics and disability
The following tables estimate the incidence of disability by personal characteristics, only for those between 15 and 55 years old, in order to get only the working-age population.
Table 4
Disabled Population as a Percentage of Age Group 15-55 Years Old
|
|
|
Men
|
Women
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Total
|
|
Brazil a
|
2.10
|
1.34
|
1.71%
|
|
Costa Rica b
|
5.01
|
4.80
|
4.90%
|
|
Nicaragua c
|
13.45
|
14.50
|
13.99%
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a. Brazil, 1981
b. Costa Rica, 1998
c. Nicaragua, 1993
Source: Social Information System SIS, Inter-American Development Bank.
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Table 5 Percentage of Disabled Population by Age Group (Ages 15-55 Years Old)
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|
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15-24 years
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25-34
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35-44
|
45 -55
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Total
|
|
Brazil a
|
1.48
|
1.53
|
1.82
|
2.63
|
1.74%
|
|
Costa Rica b
|
2.82%
|
4.04
|
5.32
|
9.83
|
4.90%
|
|
Nicaragua c
|
6.90
|
9.46
|
19.22
|
39.11
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13.99%
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a. Brazil, 1981
b. Costa Rica, 1998
c. Nicaragua, 1993
Source: Social Information System SIS, Inter-American Development Bank.
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Table 6
Percentage of Disabled Population by Schooling (Ages 15-55 Years Old)
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|
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Brazil a
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Costa Rica b
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Nicaragua c
|
|
No Schooling
|
4.43
|
24.71
|
19.30
|
|
Unfinished Primary / Elementary School
|
1.61
|
8.34
|
14.53
|
|
Finished Primary / Elementary School
|
1.22
|
4.24
|
12.86
|
|
Unfinished High School
|
0.79
|
3.05
|
9.13
|
|
Finished High School
|
0.49
|
2.97
|
10.10
|
|
Unfinished College
|
0.46
|
3.38
|
16.45
|
|
Missing data
|
0.47
|
3.85
|
-
|
|
Total
|
1.74%
|
4.90%
|
13.99%
|
|
a. Brazil, 1981
b. Costa Rica, 1998
c. Nicaragua, 1993
Source: Social Information System SIS, Inter-American Development Bank.
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Table 7
Percentage of Disabled Population, by Household Position (Ages 15-55 Years Old)
|
|
|
Brazil a
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Costa Rica b
|
Nicaragua c
|
|
Sons, Daughters and Spouse of Household Head
|
1.72
|
4.53
|
12.16
|
|
Household Head
|
1.48
|
5.71
|
20.41
|
|
Other Members
|
2.86
|
5.28
|
7.84
|
|
Total
|
1.74%
|
4.90%
|
13.99%
|
a. Brazil, 1981
b. Costa Rica, 1998
c. Nicaragua, 1993
Source: Social Information System SIS, Inter-American Development Bank.
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Table 8
Percentage of Disabled Population, by Marital Status (Ages 15-55 Years Old)
|
|
|
Costa Rica a
|
Nicaragua b
|
|
Single
|
5.01
|
10.11
| |
