New figures

Every seventh person with a disability has a job

760,000 people live in Austria with a registered disability, for example with a disability pass (symbolic image).(Bild: Marko Rupena – stock.adobe.com)

760,000 people with registered disabilities live in Austria. This means, for example, that they receive care allowance or have a disability pass. This group is often still excluded from education and the labor market.

According to initial data from Statistics Austria, only 15 percent are employed, and four out of ten have at most a compulsory school leaving certificate. The majority (70 percent) received a pension at the end of 2022. The remaining people with disabilities were either under 15 years old or still in education at the time. By comparison, almost every second person in the population as a whole is employed (49%), with only a fifth drawing a pension.

At 39%, the proportion of people who no longer complete higher education after compulsory or special school is also significantly higher than in the population as a whole. A third of people with registered disabilities had completed an apprenticeship by the end of 2022, 14% had completed a vocational secondary school and just under 13% had a school-leaving certificate or higher education qualification. In the population as a whole, almost every third person has at least a school-leaving certificate.

Here you can see a graphic of the distribution on the labor market.

Many still in special schools
Almost every third young person with a registered disability was taught in a special school or according to a special school curriculum. There were major differences here depending on the federal state. People in Salzburg and Vorarlberg were particularly likely to be in special schools, while there were significantly fewer in Carinthia.

There are also major differences in attendance at grammar schools and vocational colleges (BHS), with attendance rates twice to three times higher in the overall population than among young people with registered disabilities. The difference is smaller at universities, although students with registered disabilities are less likely to graduate successfully.

Statistics Austria collects this data in order to evaluate political measures and measure progress in the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This creates an "essential basis for inclusion measures in education and labor market policy," said Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas.