The influence of wage subsidies on the open employment of people with disabilities

The aim of this investigation was to explore in more detail whether, and how, wage subsidy schemes in Australia designed for people with disabilities facilitate employment in the open labour market. The cohort consisted of participants who commenced employment within 18 months of receiving employment assistance from a single large provider of disability employment services (N = 4,516). Among those 3,286 (72.8%) commenced employment in jobs not linked to wage subsi-dies, and 1,230 (27.2%) had at least one job linked to the actual payment of wage subsidies. The results indicate that both Australian Government and service provider funded wage subsidy schemes had complementary and beneficial effects. Jobs linked to any type of wage subsidy commenced sooner and were more likely to reach both 13-week and 26-week employment milestones, than jobs not linked to wage subsidies. These particular subsidy schemes appear to facilitate the employment of people with disabilities in the Australian open labour market. Although selection bias cannot be eliminated as an alternative explanation, the use of wage subsidies by one large service provider in Australia is associated with enhanced outcomes measured by time to commencing employment and attainment of both 13-week and 26-week employment duration milestones