Research project to identify available data on the educational situation and labour market situation of people with disabilities and ways to improve the information situation

The data situation on people with disabilities in Austria is unsatisfactory. The available data only provide insight into specific areas of life of persons with disabilities or give information on narrowly defined groups that serve specific purposes of social or labour market administration. Especially in the area of labour market inclusion, the current data situation does not allow for a systematic and comprehensive presentation of the education and labour market participation of persons with disabilities.
Within the framework of the present research project, commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Labour, it is to be presented which information on the labour market situation of persons with disabilities is currently available and which options are conceivable to improve the data situation. The project is being carried out in cooperation with Statistics Austria and includes extensive research work to cover the following central questions:

• Which data on the individual persons are actually collected?

• What is the purpose of the data?

• Which data gaps can be identified?

The research also includes an exchange with the most important stakeholder groups, such as stakeholders and representatives of the state, federal government and provider organisations in the context of roundtables.
In addition to a summary of the research results, the final report will also contain concrete recommendations for action to improve the data situation.

Based on the central analysis of administrative and survey data carried out in the report, it can be summarized that no comprehensive picture of the labor market and education situation can be given on the basis of linked administrative data for the vast majority of persons with disabilities who do not have official disability status (such as beneficiaries with disabilities or persons with a disability pass).

The following chart depicts the different groups of people with disabilities identified in the course of the research and shows overlaps between them.

The figure illustrates the quantitative discrepancy between the group of persons covered by the Global Activity Limitation Indicator (GALI), which is used in surveys and records the subjective (self-)assessment of the existence of a permanent limitation of persons, and the part of persons covered by administrative data. Outside the GALI circle, persons with disabilities can be located who live in institutions and are therefore not included in surveys.
The currently prevailing gaps in knowledge about persons with disabilities can be attributed on the one hand to data gaps due to a lack of information but also to utilization gaps due to information that cannot be evaluated statistically. The following diagram is intended to illustrate this. Here, central data sources with reference to the education and labor market situation of people with disabilities and the respective scope of information in the individual sectors are shown.

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