Analysis of the Employment Rate of People with Disabilities in Ecuador

In Latin America and the Caribbean, approximately 12% of the population has some type of disability, 80% of them are unemployed and the 20% who have a job do not have the same conditions as the rest of the employees. To address this, public policies have been proposed and implemented with a focus on the labor insertion of people with disabilities. In this context, people living with a disability find it more difficult to find a job. They are less likely to be employed compared to people without disabilities. This article analyzes the employment of people with disabilities in Ecuador. Since Ecuador is considered a developing country, employment plays a fundamental role in the economic development of the population, particularly of people with disabilities. We want to identify the occupation rate in the formal market in Ecuador, establishing the percentage of participation by type of disability. In addition, an analysis will be carried out according to the affiliated institution in which it is active. The research is descriptive, and the data recorded in official sources were analyzed. We conclude that the employment rate of people with disabilities is only 15.3%, and that people with intellectual disabilities have the lowest employability rate, at 7.5%. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.