Current Status and Issues of the Employment of Persons with Disabilities in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Rural Areas of Japan: A Survey from Business Owners’ Perspectives

Kazuaki Maebara (), Kanae Yamaguchi, Kazuma Ikeda and Hiroki Takahashi
Additional contact information
Kazuaki Maebara: Graduate School of Education, Akita University, Akita 010-0904, Japan
Kanae Yamaguchi: Department of Education and Human Studies, Akita University, Akita 010-0904, Japan
Kazuma Ikeda: Special Support School, Akita University, Akita 010-0904, Japan
Hiroki Takahashi: Special Support School, Akita University, Akita 010-0904, Japan

Disabilities, 2025, vol. 5, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: This study examines the employment of persons with disabilities in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural Japan. An online survey of 40 SME owners was conducted to assess their understanding, experiences, and challenges in employing persons with disabilities. The results indicate that many SMEs lack awareness of employment systems, but those with prior contact experience demonstrate greater understanding. Key challenges include difficulties in job creation, workplace acceptance, and inadequate environments. To address these issues, it is essential to enhance information on job creation, share successful cases, and establish mentoring systems for knowledge exchange between SMEs. These findings provide insights for policy development and practical strategies to promote the employment of persons with disabilities in SMEs.

Keywords: employment of persons with disabilities; small- and medium-enterprises; vocational rehabilitation; local enterprises; Japan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7272/5/3/62/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7272/5/3/62/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jdisab:v:5:y:2025:i:3:p:62-:d:1697996

Access Statistics for this article

Disabilities is currently edited by Ms. Cici Zhou

More articles in Disabilities from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().