Disability and Employment: Towards a Humanistic Economy

This book offers new knowledge on the intricate interplay between employment and disability. It provides a timely scholarly deliberation and presents policy solutions to tackle the persistently high unemployment among people with disabilities. This critical issue in the labour market obstructs fostering inclusive economic growth by ensuring employment opportunities for all under Goal 8 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

This insightful work dissects how negative stereotypes of people with disabilities in the labour market are perpetuated and highlights knowledge gaps in the available literature on the disability‒employment relationship. It offers a systematic empirical analysis of the patterns of the unemployment rate of people with disabilities and its convergence, and it examines the determinants of the unemployment gap between people with and without disabilities. Theoretical deliberations are presented regarding the effectiveness of labour market interventions designed to solve this issue.

By exploring the concept of disability and offering empirical analysis and labour market solutions, this book serves as a valuable resource for policymakers, advocates, and anyone committed to achieving more inclusive economic growth and moving towards a more humanistic economy.

Fumitaka Furuoka is an associate professor at the Asia-Europe Institute, Universiti Malaya. He also taught economics at Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. Before entering academia, he worked at the Consulate-General of Japan in Penang, Malaysia, from 1991 to 1999. His main academic interests are labour economics, particularly the topics pertaining to the employment of people with disabilities, unemployment hysteresis, and the Shimer puzzle on the behaviour of equilibrium unemployment. He is an expert in the application of the OxGauss programme in economic analysis. The codes, the data, and his current academic pursuits can be found on his personal page.