Employment is an important part of adult life, yet access to the labour market for people with disabilities is limited. A solution is to promote the development of work integration social enterprises (WISEs), yet this requires more support. Therefore, the research aims to identify factors influencing the employment of persons with disabilities by WISEs and design scenarios for promoting the employment of persons with disabilities in Latvia in the context of social entrepreneurship. The research performed a systematic theoretical review to identify the factors, their scope and characteristics as well as their significance and applied analysis, synthesis and deduction for the identification and classification of the factors. The scenario method was employed to identify employment opportunities for people with disabilities, yet an assessment of the scenarios was performed by applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which involved experts engaged in social entrepreneurship. The research found that the most effective way to promote the employment of people with disabilities by WISEs was to increase the scope of national support instruments, and that the use of municipal support instruments was essential. The national support scenario involved partly subsidising wages for disabled employees employed by WISEs and support for long-term investment in WISEs.

In Latvia, the employment of persons with disability is two times lower than the European Union average, which indicates a marked social and income inequality in the country, as well as the dependence of such persons on national and local government support. One of the solutions for increasing the employment of people with disability is social entrepreneurship. In Latvia, 28% of a total of 189 social enterprises are work integration social enterprises, which mostly employ persons with disability. The research aims to examine the experience of work integration social enterprises in Latvia. To achieve the aim, the research performed a case study of three work integration social enterprises. It was found that the main goal of all the enterprises was to integrate people with disability into the labour market through their training and skills development. The main challenges of employing the target group were their insufficient level of education and poor professional skills, as well as the need to adapt the working environment and equipment. Depending on the degree and kind of disability, the workloads for such persons are also adapted. National, local government and other available support instruments for social enterprises are used to expand their operation, the most important of which are the grants administered by the Ministry of Welfare and the finance institution Altum, as well as a tax credit – a lower employer mandatory state social insurance contribution rate if employing people with disability

The goal of the Union of Equality: Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 is to ensure that persons with disabilities in Europe have equal opportunities, including equal access to participate in society and the economy. In 2020, 201 598 persons with disabilities lived in Latvia (10.6% of the total population), moreover, their number is growing every year. Only 26.6% people with disabilities are employed, and their employment is slightly growing every year. Besides, unemployment increases the risk of falling below the poverty line, as well as increases dependence on municipal and national social benefits. The aim of the present research is to analyse the situation of persons with disabilities in the labour market and identify the factors influencing their employment in Latvia. The monographic, analysis and synthesis methods, as well as statistical analysis methods were used to achieve the aim. The research has concluded that the employment of people with disabilities is affected by the support instruments embedded in the legislation and specific support instruments for work integration social enterprises. Overall, however, the support instruments for the integration of people with disabilities into the labour market are few or insufficiently encourage entrepreneurs. To increase the employment of persons with disabilities, it is important to promote the development of social entrepreneurship, in particular the development of work integration social enterprises. Keywords: persons with disability, work integration social enterprise, employment, labour market.