Disabled people

In mid-2009 the Danish Government’s Labour Market Commission put forward a proposal on how it would permanently increase the total work efforts through labour market reforms. One way to do this is to reduce the number of people outside the labour market due to health problems. This report sheds light on this problem by following up on the lives of individuals who had a disability in 1995: How have they fared on the labour market since then, how often have they been granted a disability pension and what is their health like now? Among other things, this study demonstrates that disabilities are not necessarily a permanent condition of life. Approximately 50% of individuals with an assessed disability in 1995 were in much better health in 2008. Just as many were in poorer health in 2008. The number of individuals with a disability who have a job did not increase significantly from 1995 to 2006. People with a hearing impediment were particularly successful in finding employment in this period. This study was funded by the Danish Government’s Labour Market Commission. It is based on data on individuals who were assessed to have a disability 1995, as well as individuals who had no disability in 1995. Both groups were interviewed in 1995 and in 2008.