Supported employment in the public sector for people with significant disabilities

Most jobs secured in supported employment programs for people with disabilities have been found in the private sector. This is in spite of the fact that the public (i.e. government) sector is a significant employer in most countries and usually offers better job stability, salary rates and employment benefits than entry-level positions in the private sector. It has been claimed in the literature that people with disabilities supported in public sector employment would enjoy similar wage and benefit advantages over their counterparts in the private sector workforce. These claims were empirically tested in this study to determine whether similar benefits are available to workers with disabilities in the Australian public sector. Over a period of 18 years, 389 public sector positions secured for people with disabilities by Edge Employment Solutions (a Western Australian supported employment program) have produced significantly superior outcomes in the key areas of hours of work, wages rates and length of employment than have 2,264 private sector positions secured over the same period. This paper reports on these findings and suggests strategies for supported employment programs to improve public sector placement outcomes.