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Almost a tenth of Germans are severely disabled.
Only half of them have a job.
Among the non-disabled it is over 80 percent.
What's wrong?
Many companies still find it difficult to integrate employees with disabilities.
They would be required by law to do so.
Every company with more than 20 employees must employ five percent of the severely disabled.
But many don't do it - and prefer to pay compensatory taxes of up to 320 euros per unoccupied mandatory place than to give a job to a person with a disability.
But there is hope: What all inclusion officers and diversity funding pots have not been able to do, the shortage of skilled workers can now do.
It is growing rapidly and is becoming increasingly painful for companies.
Older employees of the baby boomer generation are retiring in droves in this and the coming years.
At the same time, there are far too few young applicants to fill the gap due to the low birth rates that follow.
This gap has more than doubled over the course of the year, reported the Competence Center for Securing Skilled Workers (Kofa) of the employer-related Institute of German Business (IW).
The number of vacancies for which there were no suitably qualified unemployed nationwide rose from around 213,000 in January 2021 to a good 465,000 in December.
»Lack of skilled workers is one of the biggest brakes on the German economy«, commented Employer President Rainer Dulger on the published labor market figures.
With a very good order situation, over 1,500 positions are unfilled at Siemens today.
And the Association of Family Entrepreneurs also sounded the alarm: The biggest concern of the members is not the corona crisis with its supply bottlenecks and higher raw material prices.
Two-thirds of companies are most concerned
At least there is one good thing about this bad situation: companies are finally coming up with the idea of hiring people with disabilities.
The employers' association has also recognized this.
Managing Director Steffen Kampeter puts it this way: »With a simultaneously increasing shortage of skilled workers, there has been a clear upward trend in the number of severely disabled people in employment for several years.
Companies have recognized that we are all business people.
The group of people with disabilities is an enormous potential for skilled workers.«
And this time it's not just lip service: In line with the growing willingness of companies to tap into the neglected potential of people with disabilities, two new Internet services have recently joined well-known career platforms such as Monster, Stepstone or Indeed.
enableme and myability offer jobs and coaching especially for the target group of people with disabilities.
The companies that advertise their jobs here are at least open to people with disabilities, but often expressly invite applicants with disabilities.
Does that bring anything?
It looks like this.
The most recent report on participation by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS) documents that more people with disabilities are actually being hired: the proportion of people with disabilities of working age with a job rose by four percent from 2009 to 2017.
Of course, in an aging workforce, the percentage of employees with disabilities increases by itself due to increasing age, without a disabled person having been newly hired.
But even if that puts the increase in quotas into perspective, the bottom line is that the trend is clearly positive.
more on the subject
Working people with disabilities: "It's not just my skills that count, but also my wheelchair" by Maik Mosheim
Which companies are behind this change?
The job exchanges for people with disabilities provide information.
Above all, large companies with thousands and tens of thousands of employees who are open to inclusion advertise here: With an impressive number of advertisements, the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, the technology giant Siemens and the Kreditbank für Wiederaufbau (KfW) stand out on the new platforms.
Corporations tend to be more willing than small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to employ more people with disabilities and often special needs because they have more human and financial resources.
They invest in inclusion teams, spatial conversions such as disabled toilets or elevators or work facilities such as height-adjustable tables.
Technology companies have been recognizing and capitalizing on the special talents of autistic people for years.
The consulting firm Auticon only places IT consultants on the autism spectrum.
Each applicant must bring an »autism diagnosis or certificate« with them.
True to the motto: "Autism is not a system error, but another operating system."
The shift towards a more inclusive labor market and ultimately a more inclusive society is taking place.
When it comes to promoting women, we know that social or societal change and progress can be slow and tough, encounter a lot of resistance and be difficult and painful for those affected.
But once the process has started, change is on the way.
In any case, the associations for people with disabilities are hopeful that the change will be sustainable.
Because if there is a shortage of skilled workers, even the German economy will rethink.