◆Number of persons with disabilities employed and actual employment rate are the highest ever
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has compiled and published the results of “Employment of Persons with Disabilities” as of June 1, 2022, for private companies and public organizations. The number of persons with disabilities employed by private enterprises (43.5 or more employees as mandated by the Law for Employment Promotion of Persons with Disabilities: statutory employment rate of 2.3%) reached a record high of 613,958.0 (up 2.7% from the previous year, up 16,172.0 from the previous year). The percentage of companies that have achieved the legally mandated employment rate is 48.3% (up 1.3% from the previous year). Of the 55,684 companies that have not achieved the legally mandated employment rate, 32,342 companies employ no persons with disabilities (zero employees), accounting for 58.1% of all companies that have not achieved the statutory employment rate.
◆Employment of people with mental disabilities increased
Looking at the number of employees by disability type, those with physical disabilities were 357,767.5 (down 0.4% from the previous year), those with intellectual disabilities were 146,426.5 (up 4.1%), and those with mental disabilities were 109,764.5 (up 11.9%), with a particularly large growth rate among the mentally disabled.
One reason for this is that the employment of people with mental disabilities has been mandatory since April 2008, and the number of people employed is still on the rise. However, the mentally challenged have more difficulty working longer hours and with more stability than those with physical or intellectual disabilities, and their workplace retention rate is lower than those with physical or intellectual disabilities.
◆Revision of the method for calculating the actual employment rate of Part-Time Workers
In order to expand employment opportunities for the mentally disabled who can work for a short time (20 to 30 hours per week), the government established a special measure to count 0.5 points per person as 1 point if certain requirements are met (the measure was supposed to last until the end of FY2022, but is scheduled to be extended through a revision of the ministerial ordinance). In addition, under the revised Law for Employment Promotion of Persons with Disabilities, the employment rate for persons with mental disabilities, persons with severe physical disabilities, and persons with severe intellectual disabilities who work 10 to 20 hours per week will be counted at 0.5 points per person (to be implemented by April 2024).
* The number of persons with disabilities that your company should employ is calculated by the following formula.
Original calculation method
Number of persons with disabilities legally employed by the company (number of persons with disabilities required to be employed) = (number of full-time workers + number of part-time workers x 0.5) x employment rate of persons with disabilities (2.3%)
