The Disability Discrimination Act in the UK: Helping or hindering employment among the disabled?

David Bell and Axel Heitmueller

Journal of Health Economics, 2009, vol. 28, issue 2, 465-480

Abstract: The enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 triggered a substantial academic debate about its consequences on employment rates of disabled people. In contrast, the employment provision of the 1996 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in Britain has received little attention. Exploiting both pooled and longitudinal data, this paper provides robust evidence that, similar to the ADA in the USA, the DDA has had no impact on the employment rate of disabled people or possibly worsened it. Possible reasons for this are higher uncertainty around litigation costs, low levels of general awareness about the Act among disabled people and employers, and a lack of financial support.

Keywords: Disability; Employment; Difference-in-difference; Discrimination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (36)

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Working Paper: The Disability Discrimination Act in the UK: Helping or Hindering Employment Amongst the Disabled? (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:28:y:2009:i:2:p:465-480

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