Employment and Disability: How a Work Placement Can Open New Opportunities

People with disabilities face greater challenges in accessing formal employment across Latin America and the Caribbean.

They are less likely to participate in the labor market, and when they do find work, they are more likely to be employed under informal conditions. Estimates show that the employment rate among young people with disabilities is 19 percentage points lower than that of their peers without disabilities.

Multiple factors lie behind these gaps. Some barriers are visible, such as physical accessibility constraints. Others are less apparent, including limited information, prejudice, or uncertainty on the part of both employers and job seekers.

But what happens when those barriers are reduced and someone gains access to a first formal work experience? Can that opportunity have lasting effects on their employment trajectory?

These are some of the key questions we sought to answer with the study Labor Market Impacts of an Internship Program on People with Disabilities, part of Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group's GDLab Research Grants Program to build evidence on disability inclusion in the region's labor markets. The study examines the experience of the Programa Primer Paso in Córdoba Province, Argentina.

Many of the barriers faced by people with disabilities stem from information gaps and bias.

On the employer side, firms may lack sufficient information about the productivity of a potential employment relationship and may overestimate the adjustments required to hire a person with a disability. They often anticipate costly modifications to equipment or work processes that, in practice, tend to be simple and readily available.

For job seekers, limited information may translate into lower expectations about their chances of finding and keeping a job or advancing in their careers. They may also fear discrimination, often with good reason. 

The IDB study examines the Programa Primer Paso, an initiative of Córdoba Province that seeks to address these barriers by offering 12-month subsidized work placements in registered private-sector firms, with positions specifically reserved for people with disabilities.

To measure the program's impact, we tracked participants' formal employment trajectories using social security records between 2012 and 2023. We compared participants with similar individuals who had not yet entered the program.

The findings are striking. Participation increases the probability of holding a formal job by an average of 8 percentage points over the following three years, reaching nearly 11 percentage points by the third year. The program also improves job stability by increasing both the number of months worked and the likelihood of remaining employed throughout the year.

One particularly noteworthy finding is that three out of every four new formal jobs are obtained at companies other than the one that provided the work placement. Moreover, nearly two-thirds of these jobs are in different economic sectors.

This pattern is revealing. It suggests that participants leave the program with assets that retain value beyond the company that offered the initial opportunity: work experience, signals of productivity, information, and skills that become part of their professional trajectory. The experience does more than facilitate access to a single employer; it broadens opportunities across the labor market. 

The program does not have the same impact across all groups it aims to serve. The strongest effects are observed among people with physical and sensory disabilities, while the impacts are smaller for those with cognitive disabilities.

The results also suggest that the program may be more effective for participants who complete their placements in medium-sized and large firms than in small firms. Larger organizations may offer a wider variety of roles and greater opportunities for specialization, increasing the likelihood of matching individuals' capabilities with the skills required for different positions.

A notable feature of the program's design is the duration of the support. Each placement lasts 12 months, but participants are allowed to apply again. Between 2012 and 2018, approximately 6,400 work placements were completed by nearly 4,000 people with disabilities, meaning that many individuals participated more than once.

This provides an important insight. Sustained support, rather than a brief initial push, appears to give participants the time they need to transition from a subsidized placement into formal employment. This suggests an important design principle: maintaining support over time and allowing participants to re-enter the program may be just as important as the work placement itself.

The study also explores whether hosting an intern with a disability influences firms' future hiring decisions, even though this is not an explicit objective of the program. The findings show no evidence of such an effect. This suggests that the program does not expand the pool of companies willing to hire people with disabilities. If future editions aim to address this challenge, they could incorporate targeted measures to attract new employers, such as providing information, supporting workplace accommodations, or offering other incentives. 

The story these findings tell is encouraging. When the barrier of a first work experience is removed, people with disabilities follow more promising employment trajectories, with benefits that persist over time.

Studies like this help identify which policies work, for whom they work, and under what conditions they are most effective. At the IDB, we support the generation of evidence that helps design more effective programs and expand employment opportunities for everyone. We invite you to download and learn more about the findings: Labor Market Impacts of an Internship Program on People with Disabilities.

This study is part of the IDB Group GDLab's growing body of evidence on the inclusion of people with disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean.