Employability of Disabled Graduates: Resources for a Sustainable Employment

Abstract

In the frame of the psychology of sustainability, this research aims at exploring how the related concepts of risk factors, protective factors, and resilience might inform our understanding of the postgraduate outcomes of disabled youth. The number of disabled students is growing steadily, nevertheless, relatively little is known about the employment experiences and skill development of disabled youth. Following the positive primary preventive approach, this explorative research investigates the role of resilience and employability resources both in preventing perceived negative impact of disability on the employment opportunities and promoting the perception of employability. Fifty disabled students responded to an online questionnaire and their responses were compared to those of a nondisabled sample (N = 190). Motivations and meanings associated with entry into the workplace are equivalent in the two groups, but perceived impact of disability is a risk factor that hinders perceived employability. Resilience resources and soft skills show their effectiveness in reducing perceived disability impact and improving perceived employability, but between group comparison shows differences in the set of available resources. Overall, results provide insights for implementing actions to promote sustainable employment in order to foster a positive, sustainable organizational development. Author Contributions: Conceptualization and Methodology: M.E.M. and E.M.; Investigation: E.M.; Formal Analysis: E.M. and M.N.; Writing-Original Draft Preparation and Reviewing: M.E.M. and M.N.; Editing: M.N.; Supervision: M.E.M. Funding: This research received no external funding. Conflicts of Interest:The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Supporting Employability by a Skills Assessment Innovative Tool—Sustainable Transnational Insights from Employers

“…With the results of this research we confirmed that for a sustainable organizational development is need to promote a sustainable employment [62] but also a sustainable, innovative and easy to use tool for employability measurement because in the most of the organizations the employees must match the corporate culture [27].…”

“…Our results also demonstrate that regarding the Eurostat describers for quality of employment and skill-related statistics arenot the risk factors that hinders perceived employability for employers and infirmed the international results [62].…”

Feature Selection for UK Disabled Students’ Engagement Post Higher Education: A Machine Learning Approach for a Predictive Employment Model

“…A systematic review carried out by some authors [17] [18] shows that across 13 studies, a total of 7 unique predictors of post-secondary competitive employment were identified such as paid employment while attending high school, Individual Educational Plan (IEP) goals or vocational skills [19], as shown in Figure 1. These predictors, alongside other factors, were found to help students with intellectual or developmental disabilities to secure a job after post-secondary education.…”

Social Exclusion and Labor Market Integration of People with Disabilities. A Case Study for Romania

“…However, the employment rate in the case of people with disabilities is considerably lower than of non-disabled people. The employment gap between people with disabilities and those without is determined by demographic and economic factors, as well as national welfare policies, but with no definitive empirical evidence on their relative strength [17].…”