Nearly 1.7 million disabled people in the Dutch labour force

Nearly 1.7 million people aged 15 to 64 years in the Netherlands had a disability affecting their capacity to work in 2009. This is 15 percent of all 15 to 64 year-olds. Just over four in ten people with a disability had a paid job of at least twelve hours in 2009; half of them had a part-time job.

Most disabled people over 45

Relatively many people with a disability are in the oldest age groups of the labour force. In 2009 34 percent were aged 55 to 64 years, 28 and percent were 45 to 54 years. For people, who did not have a disability this was 17 and 21 percent respectively.

Increase in share of young people with a disability

While the share of 15 to 24 year-olds in the population without a disability remained the same compared with 2003, the share with a disability rose by 2 percent points to 8 percent. This is the equivalent of 136 thousand young people with a disability affecting their capacity to work.

People with and without a disability by age

Slightly more disabled people had a job in 2009

Although people with a disability say they have a chronic condition that makes it more difficult for them to get or do paid work, some 43 percent of them had a paid job of at least twelve hours a week in 2009. This is a much smaller share than the share of the population without a disability: 72 percent of them had paid work.

Labour participation was higher in 2009 than in 2003 for both people with and without a disability. The increase was larger for the latter group, however.

Labour participation of 15 to 64 year-olds with and without a disability

Strong rise in number of disabled people working part-time

People with a disability who have a job are much more likely than those without a disability to have a part-time job. In 2009, 51 percent of them had a job of 12 to 34 hours a week, compared with 38 percent of people without a disability.

The percentage of part-timers in both groups was higher in 2009 than in 2003. For those with a disability it rose by nearly 7 percent points, for people, without a disability by nearly 4 percent points.

Part-time jobs of 15-64 year-olds with and without a disability

Hendrika Lautenbach and Jos Sanders (TNO)