Given the difficulty of securing a job in Macau for disabled people, local non-profit the Fuhong Society is urging the SAR government to offer more employment support for disabled people, in a bid to help them integrate better into the community.
“Under the sagging economy and a climbing unemployment rate, this disadvantaged group will be easily forced out [from the job market],” Chau Wai I, director of the Fuhong Society of Macau, told TDM.
Currently, only some big enterprises and casino operators have policies about hiring disabled people. Those working in small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) may be fired easily, owing to the current economic environment, Chau added.
In order to encourage disabled citizens to enter the job market, the Social Security Fund rolled out the Employment Incentive Program for Disability Pension Beneficiaries in 2018.
The program ushered in grace measures enabling working trials for beneficiaries of the disability pension. This allows them to have up to two periods of trial work in a year, with each period lasting 90 days.
As of the end of 2020, a total of 267 people had signed up for the program, with 148 of them, or 55.4% of all participants, securing employment.
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