EVALUATION OF EXISTING EUROSTAT STATISTICS

3. ACCESS TO LABOUR MARKET

The right of persons with disabilities to work and participate in the labour market on an equal basis with others is set out in Article 27 of the UNCRPD. At the Nordic level, access to the labour market is highlighted under the focus area of participation in the Nordic Programme for Co-operation on Disability Issues 2023–2027. The European Commission has established a Disability Employment Package to support Member States in ensuring that persons with disabilities enjoy economic autonomy through employment. Furthermore, reducing the disability employment gap will contribute to the 2030 EU headline targets on employment participation of adults. The 2021 mapping study recommended including an indicator on labour status by activity limitation.

Three indicators in this section come from the EU Labour Force Survey and one from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) . The EU Labour Force Survey is conducted every two years, and the data presented here refer to the 2024 survey, except for Iceland, where the latest available data are from 2022. The indicator on the disability employment gap comes from the annual EU-SILC survey and is shown over time from 2014 onwards.

The working age population consists of the labour force and persons outside the labour force. The labour force comprises all people who are either employed or unemployed but actively seeking and available for work. The labour force participation rate is the share of the working age population that is in the labour force. The employment rate is the share of the working age population that is employed. It is not restricted to those in the labour force.

Eurostat does not typically publish a standard employment rate specifically for persons with disabilities. Instead, it reports the disability employment gap, defined as the difference between the employment rates of persons without disabilities and those with some or severe disabilities.

Persons outside the labour force are those of working age who are neither employed nor unemployed. This group includes, for example, students, retirees and individuals who are unable to work due to illness or other reasons.

Indicator	Data source	Disability measurement	Periodicity of data collection	Population
1. Labour force participation	EU Labour Force Survey (EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) [lfsa_argaeddl]	GALI	Every 2 years	20–64 years
2. Disability employment gap	EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) [hlth_dlm200]	GALI	Annually	20–64 years
3. Unemployment	EU-LFS [lfsa_urgaeddl]	GALI	Every 2 years	20–64 years
4. Outside the labour force	EU-LFS [lfsa_ipgaeddl]	GALI	Every 2 years	20–64 years

Table 5: Indicators identified as strong candidates for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics Database on access to the labour market.

Indicator	Data source	Disability measurement	Periodicity of data collection	Population
1. Labour force participation	EU Labour Force Survey (EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) [lfsa_argaeddl]	GALI	Every 2 years	20–64 years
2. Disability employment gap	EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) [hlth_dlm200]	GALI	Annually	20–64 years
3. Unemployment	EU-LFS [lfsa_urgaeddl]	GALI	Every 2 years	20–64 years
4. Outside the labour force	EU-LFS [lfsa_ipgaeddl]	GALI	Every 2 years	20–64 years

Table 5: Indicators identified as strong candidates for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics database on access to the labour market.

Figure 12: Labour force participation rates by level of disability among persons aged 20–64 years living in private households.

Most recent year available (2024 for Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and EU27; 2022 for Iceland).

Source: Eurostat [lfsa_argaeddl]

The indicator on labour force participation rates by level of disability, shown in Figure 12, is a strong candidate for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics Database. The participation rate measures the share of the population aged 20–64 years that is either employed or actively seeking a job. Figure 12 shows that in all Nordic countries, there is a progressive gap in labour force participation rates by level of disability. The widest gap between labour force participation rates of individuals with severe activity limitation and those without activity limitation is observed in Denmark (64 percentage points), while the narrowest gap is observed in Iceland (48 percentage points).

Figure 13: The disability employment gap by level of activity limitation for persons aged 20–64 years living in private households.

Most recent year available (2025 for Finland, Norway, Sweden; 2024 for Denmark and EU27; 2020 for Iceland).

Source: Eurostat [hlth_dlm200]

The second strong candidate for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics Database in this section is the indicator on the disability employment gap by level of activity limitation, shown in Figure 13 and Figure 14. While the labour force participation rate shown in Figure 12 measures the share of persons in the labour force, the employment rate measures the share of the working age population that is employed. The graph in Figure 13 shows the gap in employment between persons without disabilities and persons with some or severe limitation. The gap in employment rates of persons with severe limitation is the widest in Denmark (54 percentage points) and narrowest in Iceland (43 percentage points). Iceland is the only Nordic country with a disability employment gap for persons with severe limitation below the European average. The disability employment gap for persons with some limitation is also widest in Denmark and narrowest in Iceland.

Figure 14 shows the same indicator over time for persons with some or severe limitation. The graph shows that the disability gap has generally decreased over the period in Norway, Sweden and Iceland, despite year to year fluctuations. Finland displayed the most stable pattern, while Denmark followed a U shaped trend, declining until 2019 before rising again. Although substantial differences between countries were evident in the mid 2010s, the gaps converged somewhat by 2025, with most countries recording values between approximately 20% and 24%.

Figure 14: The disability employment gap for persons aged 20–64 years with some or severe limitation living in private households.

Years 2014 to the most recent available year (2025 for Finland, Norway, Sweden; 2024 for Denmark and EU27; 2020 for Iceland). Data missing for Denmark 2021–2022.

Source: Eurostat [hlth_dlm200]

Figure 15: Unemployment rates by level of disability among persons aged 20–64 years living in private households.

Most recent year available (2024 for Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and EU27; 2022 for Iceland).

Source: Eurostat [lfsa_urgaeddl]

The indicator on unemployment rates by level of disability, shown in Figure 15, is also a strong candidate for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics Database. The unemployment rate measures the share of the labour force that is unemployed and actively seeking and available for work.

Figure 15 shows that in all Nordic countries, unemployment rates are higher among persons with disabilities than those without disabilities. The graph also shows that the gap varies in magnitude across Nordic countries, ranging from 1 percentage point in Norway, to 13 percentage points in Finland.

Figure 16: Share of persons outside the labour force by level of disability among persons aged 20–64 years living in private households.

Most recent year available (2024 for Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and EU27; 2022 for Iceland).

Source: Eurostat [lfsa_ipgaeddl]

The fifth strong candidate for inclusion in the Nordic Statistics Database in this section is the indicator on persons outside the labour force by level of disability, shown in Figure 16. The graph shows that in all Nordic countries, persons with some or severe disabilities are more likely to be outside the labour force than persons without disabilities, and in all the countries observed, over half of persons with severe disabilities are outside the labour force. The widest gap between persons with severe disabilities and those without disabilities is observed in Denmark (64 percentage points), while the narrowest gap is observed in Iceland (48 percentage points).