Economic Crises and the Quota System
Dal-yob Lee
Department of Vocational Rehabilitation
Taegu University, Taegu, Korea
Abstract Work, in this modern society, is an issue of human rights, and the most powerful tool to enable and empower people with disabilities. Many countries in the Region such as China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan have adopted the quota system which requires a certain proportion of the workforce to be filled by disabled workers as a major measures for promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Since the economic turmoil struck Korea, people with disabilities have suffered from significant financial hardship and unemployment. This paper addresses the quota system adopted by Korea and tries to analyze the psychological aspects of the quota system people maintained. Before drawing the conclusion, some suggestions will be made.
Current Employment Situations of People with Disabilities in Korea
Work, in this modern society, is an issue of human rights, and the most powerful tool to enable and empower people with disabilities. It is a means of social dignity, economic independence, self-actualization, and social participation.
The Meeting of Senior Officials marking the Mid-Point of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons was held in Seoul in 1997. Its member countries were urged to improve job placement opportunities for people with disabilities by identifying and developing new jobs geared towards the present and future job demands of the labour market and to provide training in these fields. However, it is not so simple nor, is it easy to achieve these noble goals? Many countries in the Region such as China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan have adopted the quota system which requires a certain proportion of the workforce to be filled by disabled workers as a major measures for promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Generally, in times of economic uncertainty and downturns, unemployment goes up and this is even more so for persons with disabilities. They are likely to find it more difficult to compete in the open labor market. The Rehabilitation International Asia and Pacific Region has been faced with economic crises. These crises are serious and certainly complicate rehabilitation, especially that which has employment as an outcome (Leung, 1998).
Since the economic turmoil struck Korea, people with disabilities have suffered from significant financial hardship and unemployment. A high national unemployment rate reaching eight percent has resulted in two million people out of labor market. Before the economic crisis, Korea has maintained a 2.2 percent unemployment rate, on average. This economic situation has threatened the quality living for people with disabilities.
Four major pieces of legislation regarding people with disabilities in Korea are the Special Education Promotion Act of 1977, the Welfare Act for People with Disabilities of 1981, the Employment Promotion Law for People with Disabilities of 1990 (EPLPD), and the Accessibility Act for The Elderly and Disabled of 1997. The Korea Congress enacted the EPLPD in 1990 as the major piece of rehabilitation legislation. It requires employers who employ more than 300 employees and public establishments to maintain two percent of their workforce by hiring people with disabilities. Through the "Five-year Welfare Development Plan", the government has endeavored to improve job opportunities for people with disabilities and subsidized 120 sheltered workshops in 1998. Many Ministry of Labor branch offices are also involved in job searches, job placement, and employment to people with disabilities. Despite that the Korean government put great efforts for rehabilitation since the 1988 Paralympic, a special Olympic, people with disabilities still remain marginalized and disadvantaged in this society. People with disabilities are still observed to suffer from lower participation in the labour market, higher rates of unemployment, and lower wages (Uh, 1997).
Many of the reasons are due to the downsizing of companies, the creation of more part-time and irregular jobs, as the employment rate is influenced by national economic conditions, which are largely determined by various factors such as the stock markets supply and demand interest rates, international profits, commodity prices, exchange rate fluctuation, immanent values of companies, business fluctuation, etc. The employment rate of people with disabilities is directly associated with the economic condition in a nation with any type of quota system. Therefore, economic instability in general should have an impact on the high unemployment rate among people with disabilities although many of them are served by segregated employment programs in Korea. Lee (1998) found that the stock market index is positively correlated with the number of employees placed by Korea Employment Promotion Agency for the Disabled (KEPAD) and the employers who seek to hire people with disabilities to the KEPAD, while Central Bank interest rate is negatively correlated with the number of the employees.
Discrimination and indifferences between employers and the public have been significantly contributed to the high unemployment rates among people with disabilities, compared to the general population. This is evident in reports by the KEPAD, revealing that the public sector only employed 0.4 percent of their workforce with people with disabilities, while the private sectors employed about 0.9 percent of their workforce with people with disabilities. The public sector is not obligated to pay fines due to not fulfilling the quota. The public sector should play a significant role hiring people with disabilities. We must remember that the UN's proclamation. The ultimate responsibility for remedying the conditions that lead to impairment and for dealing with the consequences of disability rest with government.
The relationship between general economic conditions and the employment opportunities for people with disabilities can, therefore, be analyzed such that people with disabilities are "The last hired and the first fired" during the periods of high unemployment. Those who need rehabilitation services are much like the typical hardcore unemployable people like the elderly and less educated people. Therefore, without any safe institutional measures other than the quota system, people with disabilities seem to be dramatically affected by structural changes in industries and the labor market.
Employing persons with disabilities under such circumstances as increased competition on the international market, rapid changes in work environment as a result of technological innovation, and labor market fluctuation, can cause great difficulty for employers. Creative and innovative measures to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities are needed urgently.
More serious problems observed in Korea are high turnover rates (more than fifty percent per year) among workers with disabilities. Jobs provided to people with disabilities through the quota have been characterized as being low-paying, having low skill requirements, and less privileges. Discriminatory regulations, prohibit people with mental or physical disabilities from engaging in certain professional areas, also exist. People who have disabilities can not possess rifles for recreational use.
Another stigma based on the quota system is the Korean Government's emphasis on a disability certificate. Negative perceptions of people with disabilities such as being unable, unproductive, dependent, a burden, in need of protection still prevail. Strong paternalism rather than autonomous decision making associated with anxiety, is still prevalent.
Programs of social support have been welfare-like in nature and have done little to encourage people to shed the label of disabled, unable and in need of help (Steadward, 1997). In this less developed country, having a disability might discourage people with disabilities in pursuing jobs and create difficulties in being promoted at work. It is extremely important to re-examine current disability policies and social phenomena to deter the economic hardship encountered by people with disabilities. Being a contributory member in society creates a sense of self worth. Remaining questions are; is it reasonable to require employers to spend their money and time hiring people with disabilities? is the quota system really good for people with disabilities themselves? is the strong levy against companies that violate the quota policy really beneficial or harmful in the long run?
Psychological Aspects of the Quota System
It is expected that the funds raised from the fines to be imposed on those who do not meet the obligatory employment quota will reach 600 million US dollar by the year 2002 (Lee, 1998). These public funds raised by the KEPAD have been a source of disputes among disability organizations and their leaders, although the fines collected become a fiscal resource from which grants are paid to companies employing a lot of persons with disabilities to alleviate their financial burden compared to that of other employers for the expenses incurred by improvement of work facilities and equipment, placement of support personnel and so on. This automatic assumption and belief that hiring people with disabilities is associated with costs and liability rather than assets has caused an impact. People with disabilities are seen as the worst job seekers or job candidates by employers. Moreover, the vice minister of Health and Welfare mentioned that the government prepare a solid base for the creation of a welfare state where all people live comfortable and happy lives without sacrificing economic growth in the process. This is the mind of top government officials and politicians. They still treat people with disabilities different from other citizens. For example, people with any type of cerebral palsy can not find jobs at all in spite of their capabilities. Such is based upon equity and employment legislation while quotas are based on a medical model.
However, the Korean levy system, which impose two thirds of the minimum wage for each individual who is not fulfilled for the quota, tends to reinforce negative image of people with disabilities toward employment, it is easily assumed that there might be a strong antagonism and some resistance among employers who are obligated to fulfill quotas in the business sector, especially in the developing countries. Typically, the general public attitudes in these countries tend to be prejudiced and against people with disabilities, regarding them as secondary citizens.
Furthermore, public and political attitudes based on sympathy and welfare, promotes dependence not independence. The quota system which has a strong levy system, in this way, would have a long-term negative impact on employment of people with disabilities.
In regards to "social safety net", people with disabilities tend to have insufficient access to public assistance and deal with inadequate social welfare programs, therefore, most of the responsibilities and problems derived by unemployment are naturally imposed on individuals themselves. This is due to a lack of understanding of the nature of disabilities and the needs of people with disabilities. Government officials should move from a medical model to a political interventions model, and from the political interventions model to the educational model.
Conclusion
Enterprisers and employers would have psychological images toward disability and the employment of people with disabilities as seen by the general public. If employer involvement in job placement procedure is one of the most important factors for success, effective measures for promoting employment opportunities should be geared toward employers as being the best advocators, sponsors, and friends of workers with various disabilities, but not their opponents. Now is the right time to revise the EPLPD. We, therefore, need more advanced and elaborate policies to ensure better employment opportunities among people with disabilities by adopting image-raising strategies while also minimizing the effects of this regional economic crisis.
All responsible parties should take action to raise awareness in society towards persons with disabilities, their needs and their potential contribution.
The role of government is creative in nature, and designed to assist people who are presumably unable to take care of self or to make their own decisions. The government should be obligated to provide decent living for people with disabilities and provide them with regular and safe social labor. Even though it took a long time before involving persons with disabilities in the development of policy and making important decisions, the "full participation of people with disabilities requires an acceptance of the principle that people with disabilities can and are able to be employed in the open market" (Hawker, 1997, p. viii, Leung, 1998). Participation in the legislative process, access to information, public awareness, communication, education, training, and employment is essential.
Aggressive and creative legislation efforts towards rehabilitation are paramount. The Special Education Promotion Law, established in 1977 and revised in 1997. As soon as leaving the provide transitional consideration of students with disabilities special education system, most people with disabilities are left with no jobs, or training opportunities. In this situation, the effectiveness of special education must be drastically decreased. Training and education are another essential element for community integration, as well as a meaningful career and a contributory social role. Society as a whole, including the special education system, should be prepared to yield more qualified workers who have disabilities. The education system should be more effective, and provide a firm bridge between students with severe disabilities and the work world, while emphasizing special educators' important roles.
Our professional community should put pressure and emphasis on the government's role to carry on positive image-raising strategies which ensure an equal share of entitlements to all citizens. These could be a form of public advertisement to utilize public broadcasting systems or other alternative quota systems which reward employers. Abolishing the levy system, and other punishment strategies such as government initiatives in national finance and tax policies can be adopted. In this way, rehabilitation policies could move from legal restriction to legal protection. After that we will be able to move from legal protection to legal advocacy for people with disabilities.
References
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Asia and Pacific Journal on Disability
Vol. 2, No. 1, May 1999
Contributed by Mr. Tsuyoshi Takeda, Asahi Shimbum Newspaper
ISSN 1029-4414