Introduction

Disability is one of the most pressing issues that can affect the development process of all countries across the globe (El Refaei, 2016). People with disabilities are more likely than their peers without disabilities to have worse socioeconomic outcomes since they experience enormous obstacles in accessing health care, education, training, employment and social services (such as housing and transport), in addition to facing exclusion from day-to-day activities (WHO, 2011). These disadvantages are exacerbated in developing countries (WHO, 2015). According to WHO (2022), more than one billion people or about 16 per cent of the global population have a disability, of whom nearly 80 per cent live in developing countries. Furthermore, it is anticipated that disability prevalence will continue to increase in the coming years, owing to ageing populations with the related higher risk of disability, and the global rise of chronic health conditions (WHO, 2011). For these reasons, the inclusion of people with disabilities warrants attention.

Specifically, the understanding of the relationship between disability and employment has gained momentum during recent decades (DESA, 2019). In addition to being a matter of fundamental human rights, persons with disabilities having access to work is also a means of gaining economic advantages. The socioeconomic position of any individual in the community depends largely on their employment and corresponding earnings in the labour market. The labour market appears to be a place where many persons with disabilities experience various barriers. There are significant differences in employment-to-population ratios between persons with disabilities, and persons without disabilities across the globe. In many cases, the employment-to-population ratio of people with disabilities is half or even one-third of that of the general population (ESCWA, 2014; DESA, 2019). Even when people with disabilities are employed, they are typically found in low-level, low-paid jobs, precarious employment or segregated from the mainstream labour market (DESA, 2019).

Egypt is no exception, where at least 10.6 per cent of the population has a disability (CAPMAS, 2017).[1] Although Egypt signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007, and ratified it in 2008, persons with disabilities in Egypt have long been marginalized, stigmatized and disadvantaged in almost all dimensions of life (Hagrass, 2012). Like elsewhere in the world, persons with disabilities in Egypt are more likely to be deprived of training and employment; hence, they frequently depend on their families or government social security programmes. As a result, they are highly at risk of poverty, abuse, exploitation, exclusion and isolation (El Refaei, 2016).

On the national level, for decades, Egypt has been eager to address the rights and needs of people with disabilities and their socioeconomic position. Egyptian efforts to include them in society have been apparent and are intended to achieve long-lasting and better development strategies. This commitment lies at the heart of the Sustainable Development Strategy in Egypt Vision 2030, guided by the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is also reflected in the Disability Rights Law, adopted in 2018. Despite the legal and institutional reforms and initiatives aiming to enhance the employment of persons with disabilities in the Egyptian labour market, disability has still been associated with substantial employment disadvantages (Sieverding and Hassan, 2019). The few empirical studies concerning employment of persons with disabilities that have been conducted are also relatively limited in Egypt. Even descriptive studies on the relationship between disability and economic outcomes are lacking. This deficiency may be due to the lack of accurate data on disability, which in turn hinders the decision makers from developing appropriate policies to integrate persons with disabilities into the Egyptian labour market. Meanwhile, assessing the employment situation of persons with disabilities becomes even more urgent within the framework of the SDGs and Sustainable Development Strategy, and with the associated pledges of equitable and inclusive development for all.

In 2017, the government of Egypt began to measure disability, using new and accurate measures developed by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG). Collection of such data makes it possible to assess the employment situation of persons with disabilities. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to use these measures, introduced in the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS) 2018, to contribute to the existing literature and fill the gap in Egyptian empirical research on employment of people with disabilities in Egypt in two ways. First, using descriptive analysis, the paper seeks to develop a detailed profile of persons with disabilities in Egypt according to levels of severity, the most prevalent types and patterns of disability by socioeconomic factors (gender, age, region of residence, wealth and education). Second, the paper aims to assess the extent to which disability is associated with a lower probability of employment in Egypt. The impact of disability on entering the labour force is a preliminary step, a baseline model is estimated using logistic regression with “being in the labour force” as the dependent variable. The study then evaluates the effect of disability on the probability of employment and working in the public sector once the individual has entered the labour market. Since the dependent variable in this case is only observed for those already in the labour force, it may represent a non-random sample. Accordingly, probit models with selection are applied to account for this potential selection bias.

The paper is organized as follows: Section 1 reviews the existing literature; Section 2 tackles the disability-related legal evolution in Egypt; and Section 3 presents a detailed profile of persons with disabilities in Egypt using the ELMPS 2018. The methodology and results of the study are discussed in Sections 4 and 5. Section 6 includes the conclusion and policy recommendations.

[1]     Although WHO estimates a disability rate of about 20 to 25 per cent in most countries, the research shows disability is significantly underreported everywhere due to the widespread stigma related to disability that might push families to hide their members with disabilities. Also, while gathering information on disability, the use of a single question technique, and the wording of said question as “Do you have any kind of mental or physical disability?”, resulted in significantly underestimating of actual disability rates.