Employment Legal Framework for Persons with Disabilities in China: Effectiveness and Reasons

Yuling Hao and Peng Li
Additional contact information
Yuling Hao: School of Public Affairs, Xiamen University, No. 422, Siming South Road, Xiamen 361005, China
Peng Li: Collaborative Innovation Center for Peaceful Development of Cross-Strait Relations, Xiamen University, No. 422, Siming South Road, Xiamen 361005, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 14, 1-20

Abstract: In order to promote the employment of persons with disabilities, two dominant legal approaches—anti-discrimination legislation based on the social model of disability and an employment quota scheme based on the medical model—are usually employed on a nation-state basis in disability policies. This article systematically examines the reasons why both the anti-discrimination and employment quota scheme legal frameworks have limited effectiveness in promoting employment of persons with disabilities in China. We found that the lack of a definition of disability, the lack of a definition of discrimination, and the absence of effective enforcement mechanisms are the reasons for poor outcomes of the anti-discrimination legal framework. For the employment quota scheme, conflicts between the mainstream labor market legal framework and the quota scheme legal framework have prompted employers to pay penalties rather than hire persons with disabilities. China should address these issues in the current legal system in the short term. Meanwhile, the CRPD should be more strongly emphasized in China. This article argues for the human rights model espoused by the CRPD, instead of the medical model, to develop a coherent and sustainable disability legal framework for promoting participation of persons with disabilities, rather than focusing on viewing them as recipients of care.

Keywords: persons with disabilities; disability model; employment; antidiscrimination; employment quota scheme; legal framework (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/14/4976/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/14/4976/ (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:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:14:p:4976-:d:382820

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

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