Existing workers reclassified make up most of disabled ’hires’
The public sector had proudly announced last year that they had surpassed the 2 percent compulsory disabled employment rate mandated by the Disabled Employment Promotion Act by having a 2.49 percent disabled workforce. However, research conducted by the Ministry of Labor showed that out of all additional disabled persons hired by the government last year, only 16.8 percent were new hires. The remaining 82.2 percent represented existing employees ’reclassified’ as disabled. The Ministry of Labor analyzed data from a publication titled, ’The Status of Disabled Employment by Public Offices, ’ which covers 135 public offices, agencies, and corporations under the aegis of the government. The ministry announced its findings on August 13, and submitted them to a recent cabinet meeting. The publication states that a total of 3,528 disabled persons were hired by the public sector last year alone; that would make the 2005 figures the largest jump in disabled employment since the implementation of the Act in 1991. With an increase of 1,076 persons over the 2,452 hired in 2004, the rate of increase stood at a whopping 43.8 percent, according to the publication, meaning the disabled employment rate rose from 2.01 percent in 2004 - the first year when the 2-percent requirement was met - to 2.49 percent in just a year. The overall rate was greater than that of the government ministries in the same year, at 2.25 percent. But among those 3,528 disabled persons employed, those who fell under the category of ‘new hire’ numbered only 208. Existing employees who were ‘encouraged to be registered as disabled’ numbered 289. And 742 employees were ‘newly reported’ as disabled. Those newly registered as disabled were thought to have concealed their disability in the initial hiring process, most likely due to discrimination against disabled job applicants in the first place.In the case of the Korea Rail Corporation, which was subject to the Act beginning in 2005, it showed 14 new hires, 138 ‘encouragements’ and 557 ‘newly reported.’ Mr. Kim Tae-hong, the equal employment senior reviewer at the Ministry of Labor, said that his office plans "to separate the pure new hires and the [recategorized] cases first to accurately analyze the actual increase in disabled employment and the effectiveness of the policy. Appropriate measures will be prepared following the analysis."
