Workers with disabilities are paid 12% less per hour than other employees, says the ILO

People with disabilities are less likely to be part of the labour market and, when they are, they tend to earn less than their non-disabled counterparts, a new working paper from the International Labour Organization (ILO) has warned.

The paper, which includes the addition of new data, finds that those with disabilities who are working are paid 12% less per hour on average, compared to other workers, with 9% of that gap unable to be explained by differences in education, age or type of work.

And the situation is worse in low and lower-middle-income countries. The disability wage gap in these countries hits 26%, almost half of which cannot be explained by socio-economic differences.

Nearly 1-in-6 of the global population experiences significant disability, according to 2021 figures. With just 3-in-10 of those with disabilities active in the labour market, their overall labour market participation remains very low.

And, as this new research from the ILO shows, when people with disabilities are in work, they typically earn less than their peers - even when socio-economic differences are accounted for.

The paper also points to gender disparities. "Among people with disabilities, some subgroups may experience even greater disadvantages when it comes to pay," the authors write. "This appears to be particularly the case for women."

In a subset of the main data where it was possible to break out wages based on sex, the average gender pay gap for workers with disabilities in these selected developed and developing countries is 6% and 5% respectively in favour of men.

The World Economic Forum's own Global Gender Gap 2024 report continues to highlight the gender disparities in the global labour market and workforce participation. In the latest edition, it shows regional variances in labour-force participation and also that "top-level positions remain narrowly accessible for women".

The ILO's working paper explores measures to improve the labour market participation of individuals with disabilities. These include suggestions to make online recruitment more accessible, adaptation measures to better facilitate work for disabled people and improved support for employers to encourage hiring workers with disabilities.

The Forum's own Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Lighthouse programme exists to share learning and initiatives that are accelerating progress on DEI efforts around the world.

The latest report, from December 2023, identifies 5 common success factors across DEI lighthouse initiatives:

While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, the report says, these success factors "tend to mark the initiatives that yield the most significant, scalable, quantifiable and sustained impact for underrepresented groups".