Disability, employment and wage in the Brazilian labor market

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the effect of disability on employment and hourly wages in Brazil. The sample is from the National Health Survey of 2013 and were considered three groups, non-disabled, disabled with activities limitations and disabled without such limitations. The methodological strategy used was the wage gap decomposition between the groups in the quantiles of the wages distribution. The results indicated a wage advantage of the non-disabled and non-limiting disabled people in relation to the disabled with activities limitations in the 50th and 90th quantiles, which is mainly due to the differences in the observable characteristics of the individuals. The non-limiting disabled had a wage advantage over the non-disabled in the 90th quantil. This result may be an evidence that employers choose to hire disabled people without limitation to higher-paying positions and thus comply the determinations of the quota policy for disabled people without significant adjustments in infrastructure or labor routines.