A-million-futures-halving-the-disability-employment-gap.pdf?ext=

Benefits of adjustment leaveto GovernmentCurrently, the vast majority ofGovernment spending onemployment related policiesgoes to large, expensive butcurrently ineffective employmentsupport programmes.Redirecting this spendingtowards policies andprogrammes that can supportdisabled people to remain in theirjobs would be a more effectiveuse of resources.Supporting people to remain inwork will become even moreimportant as the workforcebecomes older. Demographicchanges mean that there areincreasing numbers of disabledpeople of working age – whichmakes the drive to createinclusive workplaces evenmore vital.By 2035, the Office for NationalStatistics (ONS) predicts thatolder people will account for 23%of the population compared with17% in 2010, with over a third ofthe workforce aged 50+ by 2020.[37]This is a major driver behindthe need to have more inclusiveworkplaces as more than half ofthe over-50s workforce will havedisability or impairment. [38]Chapter two: Jobs48% of disabledpeople say thatflexible workingwould have enabledthem to stay at work.As the economy recovers, it isvital that disabled people cantake advantage of new jobsbeing created. Yet changes tothe structure of the labour marketundermine this opportunity.Trends in the kinds of jobs beingcreated could mean disabledpeople’s employment rate willgrow more slowly than the widerworkforce, increasing theemployment gap across thecountry. Ensuring that disabledpeople are better able to accessthe jobs of the future should bea policy priority for the nextParliament.Changing labour marketsOne of the most widelyrecognised trends in the currentlabour market is the shift towardsa significantly more polarisedlabour market – something of14 15