Research shows that Wage Subsidy's don't work

11 Jul 2012: There was a report written by the Department of Family and Community Services, nine years ago titled “Improving Employment Opportunities for People with a Disability” which I read all 63 pages of with a highlighter for what I considered ‘good' and another highlighter for what I considered ‘no good'

There was discussion about the use of wage subsidy schemes in which at first I was fuming about. In previous blogs you would have read my distaste for them.

I was happy to read that the employers who were interviewed in this study discovered that the employer was more interested in ‘finding the “right person for the job” as the chief motivator for employing a person with a disability'.

Phew, it's good to read that serious employers are hiring people with a disability because of their skills and not because of a handout from the government.

Another paragraph shows that subsidies are not that important: ‘75% to 85% of placements would have taken place without subsidies'

I like reading this as firstly it shows that people with a disability can be hired for their skills alone, and not some government incentive. Secondly, that employment consultants are marketing their clients on their skills, without the added bonus of these incentives.

A couple of questions that now come to mind are:

1. Why has the government released more subsidies if they know they are not putting a person with a disability in a good light in regards to employment?

2. Why are certain specialised Employment Services selling their services with an incentive to employ a ‘Disability Employment Services participant'?

What the government and these specialised employment services need to do is educate, educate, educate. Educate themselves and the community on why employing a person with a disability is a good idea! More on this will be discussed in another blog.