Employment: long-term unemployment down by 15% among people with disabilities

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: Thibaut Durand / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP 17:22 pm, May 11, 2023

The improvement on the employment front also benefits people with disabilities, the number of long-term unemployed with disabilities having decreased by 15% in 2022, according to figures released Thursday by the network of "Cap emploi", structures specializing in the support of these groups. Last year, just under 199,000 people with disabilities had been looking for a job for more than a year, 15% less than in 2021, said Marlène Cappelle, the general delegate of Cheops, the national network of Cap Emploi. In the general population, this figure has decreased by 21%.

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An 11% increase in the number of "returns to employment"

The upturn has also resulted in an 11% increase in the number of "returns to work", i.e. people with disabilities who have come out of unemployment. The "rather favorable economic situation in 2022" has favored recruitment, but this good result is also explained by a "better articulation on the ground of professionals from Pôle Emploi and Cap Emploi," said Marlène Cappelle.

Since October 2021, the two structures have come together to offer unemployed people with disabilities a "unique place of support", offered by more than 1,100 Cap emploi advisers and about 2,000 Pôle emploi advisers more specifically trained in disability. In three years, the unemployment rate of people with disabilities has fallen from 18% to less than 14%, according to the Association for the management of the fund for the professional integration of people with disabilities (Agefiph). However, it remains almost twice as high as that observed in the population as a whole (7.2% in the 4th quarter of 2022).