The government decided to raise the mandatory employment rates for people with disabilities in the private and public sectors. If this target is met, jobs for people with disabilities will increase by 33,000 over the next four years. The government also decided to spend budget funds to provide employment incentives and workplace improvement incentives to corporations that fulfill their obligation to hire people with disabilities, and to give higher training allowances and commuting expense support to people with disabilities.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 1st announced a "support plan for employment of people with disabilities" that includes these measures. The employment rate for people with disabilities was 48.4% last year. While the overall labor market employment rate is rising, the employment rate for people with disabilities has recently been on the decline.
The ministry plans to gradually raise the mandatory employment rates that corporations must meet. Under the Act on the Promotion of Employment of Persons with Disabilities, private corporations are currently required to employ people with disabilities for at least 3.1% of their total workforce. The plan is to raise this mandatory rate to ▲ 3.3% in 2027 and ▲ 3.5% in 2029. The public institutional sector will be raised from the current 3.8% to 4% in 2029.
Accordingly, the ministry estimated that by 2029, employment of people with disabilities will increase by about 30,000 in the private sector and about 3,000 in the public sector.
The government plans to strengthen incentives for corporations that meet the mandatory employment of people with disabilities. First, it will expand the eligibility for the "employment incentive" paid to corporations that exceed the mandatory rate. The incentive is paid to employers by disability type at 350,000 to 900,000 won per worker per month. This year, 371.8 billion won (756,000 people) is expected to be paid in incentives, and next year 401.1 billion won (811,000 people) will be paid.
If enterprises with 50 to 99 workers increase the employment of people with severe disabilities and reach the mandatory rate, they will also receive a "workplace improvement incentive." This is newly established. It will be provided for one year at 50% of the employment incentive level, up to 450,000 won per person per month. Since many establishments with fewer than 100 employees fail to meet the mandatory rate, this measure aims to raise it.
For example, the mandatory employment rate for a private business sites with 70 employees is 3.1%, meaning it must hire more than two people with disabilities. If the corporation that had not hired any people with disabilities hires two, it will receive up to 450,000 won per person per month as an incentive. If it hires only one, it does not reach the mandatory rate and no incentive is paid. The ministry allocated 1.6 billion won for next year's workplace improvement incentive budget.
In addition, the ministry decided to raise the daily training allowance for people with severe disabilities from 18,000 won to 35,000 won, and to increase the number of beneficiaries for commuting expense support from 13,000 this year to 15,000 next year.
Also, corporations with 100 or more employees that fall short of the mandatory employment rate for people with disabilities currently pay a levy, but months in which the monthly number of employees is fewer than 100 will be excluded from the levy. If a corporation that finds it difficult to directly hire people with disabilities establishes a subsidiary-type standard business and hires people with disabilities, a special case will be newly introduced to reflect the subsidiary's employment in the mandatory rate in proportion to the equity stake.
Minister Kim Young-hoon of the ministry said, "Creating an environment where workers with disabilities can work with confidence is the first step toward a truly labor-respecting society," adding, "We will do our utmost to build workplaces where people with disabilities can fully demonstrate their abilities, grow, and be respected."