A Social Report for Ireland Volume II - the NESC Website

264Figure 9.16 Percentage in Employment Aged 15-64, 2004%100807975686040464049 4938462025015-2425-34 35-44 45-54 55-64With a DisabilityAll PersonsSource CSO 2004 (QNHS Q1 2004 Disability Update)Persons reporting a disability/health problem worked on average 34.9 hours perweek compared to 36.8 hours per week for the overall population (CSO, 2004: 1). TheOECD notes that in most countries people with ‘health problems’ are significantlymore likely to work part-time (OECD, 2009a: 11). Hours worked affects earningslevels. Gannon and Nolan (2005: 10) found that while there was little differencebetween the average earnings of all male employees and the average earnings ofmale employees with a disability, women with a disability did have lower weeklyearnings, primarily because they worked fewer hours per week. 181 There is anearnings gap between those whose disability hampers daily activities and thosewhose disability does not. Disability also has an indirect impact on earnings as itmay have an effect on the level of education attained (see below) and on years ofwork experience.Gannon and Nolan also found (2006: 9) that the onset of disability for adultsof working age led to a decline of about 20 percentage points in the probabilityof being in employment, especially if the person was hampered in his/her dailyactivities. Conversely, when an adult moved from reporting disability to notreporting disability there was an increase of about 7 percentage points in theprobability of his/her being in employment.Employment in the Public ServiceSince 1977 there has been an informal requirement for public bodies to employ aminimum quota of 3 per cent of people with disabilities. The Disability Act 2005 hasnow put this informal requirement into law, along with the obligation to take allreasonable measures to comply with the law. Monitoring the employment of peoplewith disabilities in the public service has been fraught with difficulties, includingdefining disability, disclosing disability, promoting a positive environment forpeople with disabilities and reporting on the proportion of people with disabilitiesin the workforce. The NDA has produced two reports on compliance with the 3 percent quota in the public service (National Disability Authority, 2006a & 2007a).181. Disabled women’s hourly earnings were actually somewhat higher than average. Thus, the picture is quite complex. When the ageand education profile of women in employment and reporting a chronic illness or disability is looked at in more detail, it is foundthat they are older and more highly educated than the (much larger) group of women employees without a disability with whomthey are being compared. Unfortunately, limited sample size did not allow more sophisticated statistical analysis of this data(Gannon and Nolan, 2005: 41).