Median Income and Employment Rate for Persons with Disabilities over Last 10 Years

The annual Comprehensive Labour Force Survey started collecting data on the employment outcomes of persons with disabilities in 2018. The average resident employment rate for persons with disabilities aged 15 to 64 rose from 28.2% for the period of 2018 to 2019, to 30.1% for 2020 to 20211. Between the two periods, the nominal median gross monthly income from work (including employer CPF) of full-time employed resident persons with disabilities aged 15 to 64 rose by 4% from $2,630 to $2,735, or 2.7%, after adjusting for inflation.

The Open Door Programme (ODP), administered by SG Enable, encourages employers to hire, train and integrate persons with disabilities into the workplace through grants and employment support services. Under ODP, persons with disabilities receive transitional support into open employment to help them gain independence in the workforce. ODP provides persons with disabilities with support in recruitment, matching to suitable jobs and customised post-placement support from trained job coaches for up to one year. Grants under ODP support the cost of job redesign and courses to prepare employers and their employees to interact, hire, integrate and retain employees with disabilities in their organisation. Between 2014 and 2021, SG Enable and its job placement partners helped to place over 3,500 clients in employment, or about 500 placements per year, on average. Over the same period, about 600 organisations participated in training to learn skills on how to recruit and integrate persons with disabilities at their workplace.

Persons with disabilities can also tap on the ODP Training Grant, which provides training allowance and enhanced course fee subsidies, to attend training courses to develop new and existing skillsets and boost their employability. Between 2014 and 2021, SG Enable and its partners trained more than 2,800 persons with disabilities.

To provide targeted employment support for persons with disabilities amid the pandemic, SG Enable introduced three new programmes under the National Jobs Council – Place-and-Train, Attach-and-Train and Skills Development Programme – to provide customised employment, traineeships and skills upgrading opportunities last year. Close to 300 job and training opportunities have been created for persons with disabilities under these programmes.

SG Enable also launched the Enabling Mark in 2020, the first-of-its-kind national accreditation for disability-inclusive employers, to provide employers with a framework for continual improvement. As of 30 June 2022, 91 organisations have received the accreditation. Beyond recognition, the efforts that get employers accredited with the Enabling Mark lay the groundwork for greater workplace disability inclusion so that persons with disabilities are treated fairly and equitably with career growth opportunities in the future.

The Government also supports employers of persons with disabilities with the Enabling Employment Credit (EEC), which provides them with wage offsets of up to 30% for each Singaporean employee with disabilities earning below $4,000 per month. In 2021, close to 6,400 employers hired more than 9,700 persons with disabilities with support from EEC.

Employers who take in new hires with disabilities may also be eligible for the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI). Based on latest available data, JGI supported more than 3,400 persons with disabilities between September 2020 and November 2021. JGI has been extended to March 2023.

MSF will continue to work with other public agencies and our community partners to increase the accessibility of training and employment opportunities to persons with disabilities.