Business Case(4)
All pieces →Around 40 per cent of companies meet the severely disabled employment quota
Original title: Etwa 40 Prozent der Unternehmen erfüllen die Schwerbehindertenquote
IAB-Forum article (Hiesinger, Pohlan, Vetter, 2025) using German Federal Employment Agency administrative data on all firms with 20+ employees. Around 40% of firms meet the 5% employment quota for severely disabled people, rising from around 36% in 2003 and dipping slightly after 2020. Public administration leads (around 71% compliant). The share of severely disabled staff averages 2.8% in firms with 20–39 employees and 5% in firms with 1,000+.
From the perspective of firms: What is needed for inclusion to succeed better
Original title: Aus Sicht der Betriebe: Was es braucht, damit Inklusion besser gelingt
IAB researchers (Fischer, Hiesinger, Pohlan; Wirtschaftsdienst 2025) analyse the representative 2024 IAB Job Vacancy Survey of German firms. Over 50% name a lack of suitable tasks as the main reason few severely disabled people are employed; about a quarter cite equipment costs or admin effort. As measures, 61% name financial support for small firms, 45% covering initial equipment and 41% integration wage subsidies; only 8% a higher levy.
With openness to success: Why inclusion in the workplace is worth more than just talk
Original title: Mit Aufgeschlossenheit zum Erfolg: Warum Inklusion am Arbeitsplatz mehr als ein Gespräch wert ist
IW-Kurzbericht 16/2025 by Seichter and Trögeler (Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft), based on the IW employee survey 2024. Among employees with disabilities, about 80% of those reporting an open climate for discussing disability with supervisors are satisfied with their job, versus about 56% where the climate is unfavourable (an association, not causal). The authors link openness to lower absence, retention and avoidable quota-levy payments.
Strengthening workplace inclusion: How behavioural economics insights help reduce discrimination against people with disabilities in hiring
Original title: Inklusion am Arbeitsplatz stärken: Wie verhaltensökonomische Erkenntnisse helfen, Menschen mit Behinderungen bei Einstellungen seltener zu diskriminieren
Applies behavioural economics to employers' hiring decisions about people with disabilities, mapping biases and heuristics across the employment cycle. Analyses non-financial nudges (goal setting, feedback, defaults, information) and inclusive corporate culture, and reports that 25.9% of employers with a statutory employment obligation filled none of their mandatory positions. (Hensen & Trögeler, IW-Report 49/2023)
Social Return on Investment(1)
All pieces →Labour Market(3)
All pieces →Labour market situation of severely disabled people 2025
Original title: Arbeitsmarktsituation schwerbehinderter Menschen 2025
Annual 'Blickpunkt Arbeitsmarkt' report (April 2026) from the Federal Employment Agency's statistics service on severely disabled people in Germany's labour market. The employment rate of severely disabled people was 50.9% in 2024, about 1.14 million worked for employers with 20 or more workplaces, and their unemployment rate was 12.0% in 2025; they are better qualified than other jobseekers but stay unemployed longer.
Inklusionsbarometer Arbeit 2025
Aktion Mensch and Handelsblatt Research Institute's German labour-market benchmark finds the employment quota for disabled people fell to 4.4%, the lowest since the barometer's first edition in 2013. Unemployment among disabled people rose in 2024 to roughly twice the general rate, and one in four quota-obligated firms employs no disabled person at all.
Inklusionsbarometer Arbeit 2024
Annual report by Aktion Mensch and the Handelsblatt Research Institute on inclusion in the labour market: The employment rate of severely disabled persons is declining further from 4.5 to 4.4 per cent, and the gap to the legally prescribed five per cent quota is widening again. The public sector exceeds the minimum quota with 6.2 per cent, whilst private enterprises fall significantly short of the target at 4.0 per cent.
Policy & Incentives(3)
All pieces →Vocational rehabilitation for people with disabilities: integration succeeds, number of people supported declines
Original title: Berufliche Rehabilitation für Menschen mit Behinderungen: Integration gelingt, die Zahl der Geförderten sinkt
IAB-Kurzbericht 21/2025 by Angela Rauch and Nancy Reims analyses vocational rehabilitation funded by Germany's Federal Employment Agency. Employment outcomes after rehabilitation have improved, but approvals fell from 26,200 in 2015 to 18,509 in 2022, and fewer women (42% to 35%) and benefit recipients are being supported, while entries directly from employment rose from 38% to 51%.
Transitions from sheltered workshops for people with disabilities to the open labour market
Original title: Übergänge aus der Werkstatt für Menschen mit Behinderung auf den allgemeinen Arbeitsmarkt
Reha-Recht article (Feb 2024) by Engels, Deremetz, Schütz, Eibelshäuser, Pracht, Welti and von Drygalski presenting results of the BMAS-commissioned study on sheltered-workshop (WfbM) pay and transitions. In 300 surveyed workshops, the annual transition rate from the work area to the open labour market rose only from 0.26% (2015) to 0.35% (2019); 82% of those who moved got jobs with social insurance, about a third via the 'Budget für Arbeit'.
Employment of people with severe disabilities: The Ausgleichsabgabe is effective
Original title: Beschäftigung von Menschen mit Schwerbehinderung: Die Ausgleichsabgabe wirkt
Comparing German firms just below and just above the 40-employee threshold, from which firms must employ at least two severely disabled people, the study finds firms just above it employ on average 0.39 more severely disabled people; after correcting for firms deliberately staying below the threshold, the effect is at least 0.2. (Hiesinger & Vetter, IAB-Forum, 2023)
Cost of Exclusion(3)
All pieces →In 2024 too, the costs of unemployment have risen significantly
Original title: Auch 2024 sind die Kosten der Arbeitslosigkeit deutlich gestiegen
IAB's annual estimate of the fiscal cost of unemployment in Germany, by Karl Heinz Hausner, Enzo Weber and Yasemin Yilmaz (IAB-Forum, Dec 2025). In 2024 the cost reached €76.6 billion (1.77% of GDP), up 12.6%. About 61% was benefit payments and almost 39% lost revenue, including €10.1 billion in taxes and €19.5 billion in social contributions.
Economic costs of work incapacity 2024
Original title: Volkswirtschaftliche Kosten durch Arbeitsunfähigkeit 2024
Annual estimate by Germany's Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) of output lost to sickness absence, based on national accounts and statutory health-insurance incapacity data. For 2024 it counts 881.5 million days of incapacity (20.8 per employee) and estimates lost production at €134 billion and lost gross value added at €227 billion.
Labour market participation: A severe disability often has serious consequences for future employment trajectories
Original title: Partizipation am Arbeitsmarkt: Eine Schwerbehinderung hat oft gravierende Folgen für den weiteren Erwerbsverlauf
Using linked administrative data from the Federal Employment Agency, the onset of a severe disability reduces the probability of being employed five years later by about 16 percentage points compared with similar people; among those who keep working, wages are 7 percentage points lower after five years than in the control group. (IAB-Kurzbericht 22/2024)