Active Labour Market Policies for Disabled People: A Comparative Analysis of the European Union Member States Betul Yalcin MACRO In what ways are the EU Member States similar and different in their active labour market policies for disabled people? (Situational Analysis) What work ? (Structural Equation Modeling) What kind of active labour market policies reveal better employment outcomes for disabled people? (QCA) MESO How is employment of disabled people perceived by public? (Logistic Regression) How are active labour market policies implemented in private sector? (Thematic Analysis) How are these policies experienced and negotiated by private sector M-SME employers and disabled employees? (Thematic Analysis) MICRO

Perception of Attitudes towards Disabled People in the Labour Market: A Comparative Analysis in the European Context ‘an idea charged with emotions which predisposes a class of actions to a particular class of situations’ (Triandis, 1984) serves as a framework through which people interpret and link themselves to the social world. ATTITUDES Industrialization and globalization devalued labor of disabled people EU employment rates (DP- 45 % vs. 72 % N-DP) Presence of institutional, attitudinal and environmental barriers. Public attitudes gain attention due to the role it plays in policy making processes Two way interaction between public attitudes and public policies Public attitudes shape/dictate policies (Hanh, 1885; Kamieniechki, 1885) Public attitudes are shaped by policies (Hick 1999; Jacobs and Shapiro, 2000) Understanding how public policy and attitudes interact with each other is important for stipulation and implementation of enabling policies. LITERATURE

Perception of Attitudes towards Disabled People in the Labour Market: A Comparative Analysis in the European Context AIM To provide pattern and trends in the European citizens' perception of the attitudes towards disabled people in the labor market To investigate the factors that influence this perception by taking individual and country level factors into account. QUESTIONS What is the pattern and trend in European citizens’ perception of attitudes towards disabled people in the labor market? Who holds such perception? DATA Eurobarometer Opinion Survey Series 2007, 2009, and 2012 Descriptive statistics Logistic regression

Perception of Attitudes towards Disabled People in the Labour Market: A Comparative Analysis in the European Context RESULTS There is a sharp decrease in the number of people who see disability as a discriminatory criteria in the labour market between 2007 and 2012 Individual level factors, compared to their reference groups Males (excluding 2012 series) People who are 55 and older People who have shorter schooling periods People who are coming from high social level People who hold right wing political orientation People who belong to Islam religion People who do not have disability or no familiarity with disability are less likely to refer disability as a discriminatory criteria in the labour market Country level factors Liberal welfare states States that have quota system for public and private sector are less likely to refer disability as a discriminatory criteria

Perception of Attitudes towards Disabled People in the Labour Market: A Comparative Analysis in the European Context CONCLUSION Although there is a decline in the number of people who sees disability as a discriminatory, recent average employment rates showed that disabled people have 63% lower employment rate than that of non disabled people Amongst individual level factors: gender, educational attainment, age, disability and familiarity with disability, perceived social level, religious denomination and political orientation are found to be significant factors in explaining differences in people’s perceptions. For country level factors, both welfare typology and quota system revealed consistent significant effect, where liberal systems and countries which have quota system in public and private sectors display consistent lower likelihoods of referring disability as discriminatory criteria Compared to descriptive statistics, logistic regression revealed slightly different, but statistically more sound results for the effects of individual and country level factors, as well as likelihoods for their sub parameters Occupational status do not reveal consistent statistical significance, meaning that employers and people who are potential colleagues hold similar views.

Perception of Attitudes towards Disabled People in the Labour Market: A Comparative Analysis in the European Context RECOMMENDATIONS EU organs and EU member states Increase in the number of people who do not see disability as a discriminatory criteria, might result in lessening the public pressure on policy makers. Considering the fact that sharpest decline overlaps with 2008 global economic crisis, intervention and awareness programs regarding employment of disabled people should be given utmost priority, particularly at the time of economic crises. Additionally, special focus should be given to those people who are less likely to think that disabled people are discriminated in economic life. During the planning of those programs, special attention should be given to eliminate the risk created by applied quota system. Having lower likelihoods than no quota systems, might be resulting from the air created by having legal obligations in the recruitment. In those countries, people might hold the view that such measures would prevent people being discriminated against in the labour market. Literature Descriptive statistics and logistic regression are complementary to each other Logistic regression serves better for likelihoods.

Perception of Attitudes towards Disabled People in the Labour Market: A Comparative Analysis in the European Context THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION Email: B.Yalcin@leeds.ac.uk; betulyn@gmail.com