Making disability employment quotas work: Lessons for Indonesia from across Asia

JAKARTA, Indonesia (ILO News) - JAKARTA, Indonesia (ILO News) - Ensuring equal access to decent work for persons with disabilities remains a critical priority for achieving inclusive and sustainable labour markets. Although Indonesia has made important progress in strengthening the legal and policy framework for disability inclusion in employment, including through the introduction of quota requirements for both public- and private-sector employers, translating these commitments into tangible labour market outcomes continues to present challenges in Indonesia and in many countries across Asia and beyond.

Across East and Southeast Asia, persons with disabilities continue to have lower labour force participation rates and poorer employment outcomes than their peers without disabilities. To help address these challenges, the ILO, through its Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transition in Indonesia, has published a study providing a comparative analysis of employment quota schemes and related policy frameworks in Indonesia and selected countries in East and Southeast Asia.

Disability employment quotas: Lessons for Indonesia from ASEAN and East Asia examines Indonesia's quota system alongside those of selected ASEAN and East Asian countries: China, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Thailand. It aims to distil key design features, governance arrangements and enforcement mechanisms to inform realistic and feasible reforms to Indonesia's approach.

Quota systems aim to stimulate labour demand by requiring employers to employ persons with disabilities at a specified percentage of their workforce. The study's analysis, however, highlights the importance of a comprehensive approach that goes beyond legal mandates alone.

Effective quota systems depend on coordinated action among governments, employers' and workers' organizations, and organizations of persons with disabilities. They require not only clear regulatory frameworks, but also robust compliance and monitoring systems, institution and support systems, incentives for compliance and broader strategies to remove barriers to employment.

The study provides a deeper understanding of how quota systems function in practice, the enabling conditions that support compliance and the innovative approaches that can enhance their impact. It also takes a holistic approach to disability employment quotas, shifting the focus beyond individual employability to the broader ecosystem of factors that can either support or create barriers to inclusive employment and quota fulfilment.

The study concludes by identifying 17 evidence-based recommendations that can inform policy dialogue and strengthen national efforts in Indonesia to promote disability-inclusive employment. This is particularly important given that disability-inclusive employment forms part of the broader human capital and inclusion agenda under Priority 4 of the Mid-Term National Development Framework, which includes a dedicated formal-sector employment target.

Simrin Singh, ILO Country Director for Indonesia and Timor-Leste, expressed hope that the study's findings and recommendations will support ongoing policy reforms, strengthen institutional capacity and contribute to more effective and inclusive employment outcomes. "By fostering dialogue among key stakeholders and promoting evidence-based policymaking, we hope this report will support Indonesia and other countries in building labour markets that leave no one behind," she said.