A €120,000 budget has been freed up for a call for projects to raise awareness of the employment of people with disabilities, Karine Lalieux, the competent minister, announced on Thursday at a press conference.
The employment rate of people with disabilities or long-term illness is 26% in Belgium.
Measures have already been taken to encourage their hiring, in particular reducing the price of work, i.e., the negative impact suffered by recipients of an integration and/or replacement allowance if they find work.
The Constitution was also amended at the start of the legislature to enshrine the right to inclusion of people with disabilities. Now, the Minister wants to fight prejudices regarding the employment of these people.
“All the actors in the field tell us it is difficult to break down prejudices, on both sides: employers but also people with disabilities who tell themselves they are not going to apply, this job is not for me," Lalieux said. “What is important on both sides is to see the skills first.”
The press conference was organised in Anderlecht, one of seven Brussels municipalities that exceed the regional employment quota of 2.5% of people with disabilities.
If local administrations are setting the example, this is far from being the case in the federal public service. “We are sadly reaching 1% and on top of that the rate is decreasing,” the minister pointed out.
Actions to remedy this are being developed with the Public Service Minister and should be finalised by the end of the year.
