A coalition for the disabled has called on the Government to introduce a mandatory two per cent employment quota for the disabled in public bodies and subsidised organisations.
The jobless rate among Hong Kong's 57,000 disabled who are capable of work is estimated at 16.5 per cent and the reality could be far worse, according to the Coalition for the Promotion of Quota Employment.
The coalition last year commissioned Polytechnic University to survey 36 public bodies and 136 subsidised social welfare agencies on the disabled employment rate. It was found that about one-third of public bodies and about 62 per cent of the subsidised organisations failed to employ any disabled people.
The public bodies hired 852 disabled people, only 1.2 per cent of their 74,000 staff. Subsidised agencies had only 304 disabled staff, 1.4 per cent of the total staff.
Last year, two per cent of government staff were disabled. The Environmental and Food Hygiene Department topped the departmental list with 12.9 per cent. But most government bureaus did not employ any disabled people.
Dr Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung, lecturer in applied social sciences at Polytechnic University, said these organisations might still have doubts on the working ability of the disabled. 'These organisations are also affected by the culture of the whole society which does not support these disabled persons to work.'