Persons with disabilities, Labour force survey, 2000, 2nd quarter

These are the main results from an ad hoc module to the Labour Force Survey.

The difference in labour force participation between disabled persons and the total population is smaller among the young ones than among the older. Among those aged 16-24 the difference was 10 percentage points, compared with more than 30 percentage points among those between 40 and 60.

55 per cent of the disabled males were economically active, compared with 46 per cent among females. This corresponds to the difference in labour market participation among males and females as a whole.

Disability: Long-term health problems

About 16 per cent of the population aged 16-66 reported to have a disability, defined as long-term health problems which may limit the everyday life.

Limits on work ability

Among disabled persons with a job, 23 per cent reported that their ability to work was limited in a high degree by the health problem, 36 per cent in some degree, 25 per cent only in low degree, while 16 per cent reported that their ability to work was not at all influenced.

Source

The data are based on an ad hoc module of questions added to the Labour Force Survey in the fourth quarter 2000. As the questions were not asked by proxy interviews, disabled persons were to some extent underrepresented in the sample. The estimates on the disability rate in the population aged 16-66 would have been 0.6 percentage points higher than the figures referred to in this article if the sample had been more representative. The proportion of employed persons among the disabled persons would have been 2 percentage points lower.

Tables:

• Tabell 1 Population aged 16-66, total, and persons with disabilities by labour force status, age and sex. 4th quarter 2000. 1 000 and as per cent of all in each group