Disabled Pathways? Labour Market Entry Trajectories of Persons with Disabilities across Europe

Almost a fifth of the population in OECD countries report having a disability, and the proportion of students classified as having special educational needs has steadily increased over recent decades. For the study of social inequality, this group is of great interest due to their marginalization and the long-term effects of classification on their life chances. Yet, comparative research on the labour market inclusion of persons with disabilities is scarce, including knowledge on school-to-work transitions (STWT), and particularly studies that address STWT as processes rather than singular events. Comparative perspectives on the impact of institutional contexts in shaping these STWT of persons with disabilities are rare, hindering policy learning.

We address these research gaps by using longitudinal data from the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). We first provide thick description of labour market entry trajectories of persons with disabilities in 25 European countries. Applying sequence and cluster analysis, we classify individual trajectories, estimating their linearity and volatility. Second, we analyze these processes in relation to key institutional characteristics. We argue that the focus of social stratification research on ‘classical’ institutional variables should be extended to fully understand the labour market entry pathways of persons with disabilities: thus, we include institutional indicators for support structures and segregation.