From Concentration to Dispersion: The Shift in Policy Approach to Disability Employment in China

In China, there has seen a significant increase in the disability employment rate over the past 20 years, largely due to socioeconomic growth factors and disability employment policy development. Extant research has failed to account for the systemic policy and socioeconomic changes that have radically changed the employment landscape for persons with disabilities in China over the past three decades. An examination of disability employment in China reveals a shift of the policy approach from concentration to dispersion. The concentration approach, compatible with a central planned economy, has given its way to its market-based parallel, the dispersion approach. Characteristics of the three main forms of disability employment—welfare enterprises, the quota schemes, and self-employment—are discussed in depth. Finally, modifications to the current disability employment policies are suggested.