The recruitment figures 2022 have already been made public by SEPE. While in the last year the hiring of the general population in the Madrid’s community has experienced a recovery of only 2% compared to 2021 —mainly due to the drop in temporary and training contracts after the last labor reform— and is still 13% below pre-pandemic times (2019), the hiring of people with disability has yielded more positive data.
With year-on-year growth of 6% in the region, it is already slightly above 2019 (+1%) and reaches a record figure in the historical series. Specifically, in 2022 people with disabilities have signed 19,554 contracts in the Community of Madrid, compared to 18,424 in 2021 and 19,419 in 2019. If we look back, we see that the number of contracts doubles compared to those of a decade ago, when it stood at 9143.
According to Francisco Mesonero, general director of the Adecco Foundation “This very positive figure that 2022 leaves us responds to the many efforts that are being carried out in terms of Diversity, equity and inclusion in recent years. Fundamental strategies to achieve more inclusive societies, but also to build more competitive companies, in which there are spaces and opportunities for everyone”.,
Therefore, the optimistic forecasts that placed 2022 as the year with the record number of hiring people with disabilities have been fulfilled, also coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the LISMI, today the General Law on Disability, which was the first regulation on inclusion employment of people with disabilities. In this regard, the director points out that: “Although we are on the right track, there are still many other successes to be achieved. On the one hand, to maintain this positive trend in the recruitment figures in the coming years, which is not a simple mirage due to the expected recovery after the stoppage caused by the pandemic; and on the other, trying to see it reflected in parameters that still show significant inequality”.
current challenges
An example of some of these challenges that remain in force and that hinder the full inclusion of people with disabilities is their low participation in the labor market. In 2021 the activity rate in the Community of Madrid stood at 42.2%. Although this is the best rate of all the autonomous communities (eight points above the national average, 34.6%), this means that 57.8% of people with disabilities of working age in the region are unemployed they don’t even look for it.
“To reverse this low participation, it would be necessary to commit to updating active employment policies, as well as improving public-private collaboration,” adds Mesonero, who also highlights “the importance of ending the training gap that continues to affect people with disabilities . Providing them with the necessary training resources and tools will ensure that they are not left behind and can be competitive in a market as demanding and changing as the current one”.
Finally, the penetration of workers with disabilities in the ordinary labor market represents another of the great challenges: In the Community of Madrid currently, 77% of the contracts are signed in the protected area, that is, in Special Employment Centers (CEE). A very high figure, and one that remains stable compared to 2021.
“It is essential —says Mesonero— that we are aware that there is still a lot to be done to reverse these percentages, and we must do it as soon as possible. The Special Employment Centers are an essential resource for the inclusion of people with disabilities; they should be a means, but not the final goal of their professional career. Inclusion reaches its best version in the ordinary company, where people with disabilities live with workers with and without disabilities in the same space and for the same purpose”concludes Mesonero.
