FR - ANED2017 - EU2020 Report - Final - Web

European Semester 2017/2018 country fiche on disability
France
Report prepared by:

Carole Nicolas
Serge Ebersold
With comparative data provided by the ANED core

team
The Academic Network of European Disability experts (ANED) was established by

the European Commission in 2008 to provide scientific support and advice for its
disability policy Unit. In particular, the activities of the Network support the
development of the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and practical
implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities in the EU.
This country report has been prepared as input for the European Semester from a
disability perspective.
Note:
The statistics provided in October 2017 are based on the EU-SILC 2015. This is the
most recent microdata available to researchers for analysis from Eurostat. This
report may be updated as new data becomes available.
Contents
1 Summary of the overall situation and challenges.................................................2

2 Assessment of the situation of disabled people with respect to the Europe 2020
headline targets....................................................................................................3
2.1 Strategic targets...........................................................................................3
2.1.1 A note on the use of EU data..........................................................4
2.2 Employment data.........................................................................................6
2.2.1 Unemployment................................................................................9
2.2.2 Economic activity...........................................................................11
2.3 Education data...........................................................................................14
2.3.1 Early school leavers......................................................................14
2.3.2 Tertiary education..........................................................................17
2.4 Poverty and social exclusion data..............................................................19
3 Description of the situation and trends in relation to each target area...............23
3.1 Employment...............................................................................................23
3.2 Education...................................................................................................25
3.3 Poverty and social inclusion.......................................................................27
4 Assessment of policies in place to meet the relevant headline targets..............30
4.1 Employment...............................................................................................30
4.2 Education...................................................................................................32
4.3 Poverty and social inclusion.......................................................................33
4.4 Synergies between developments in the different areas...........................34
5 Review of the European Semester from a disability perspective.......................36
5.1 Progress on disability-specific Country Specific Recommendations (CSRs)
....................................................................................................................36
5.2 Progress on other CSRs from a disability perspective..............................36
5.3 Assessment of disability issues in the Country Report (CR).....................36
6 Assessment of the structural funds ESIF 2014-2020 or other relevant funds in
relation to disability challenges...........................................................................38
7 Recommendations..............................................................................................39
1
1 Summary of the overall situation and challenges
Since the Disabled Act 2005, there have been many changes in France concerning
the inclusion of disabled persons. Many instruments have been created to promote
employment, education and social inclusion for disabled persons. The situation
keeps improving, even if many things need to be extended and developed in
implementation.
In matters of access to rights and incomes, strong inequalities still remain. The
number of disabled people who are old enough to work tends to increase more than
the overall population of the same age group. The activity rate tends to decrease in
spite of a slight improvement in 2016 as concerns disabled people with an
administrative recognition, whereas it has stabilized for the overall population and the
unemployment rate improved a little bit in 2016 while it was decreasing among the
overall population. Unemployment among disabled people continues at almost twice
the rate of the general population. Disabled people have access to lower qualified
and less paid jobs and part time working is almost twice that of the overall population,
half-time or less in 50% of cases. Data shows that disabled people of working age
are older and less educated than the general population of the same age and that
they tend to get older. Their qualifications have improved in recent years.
The rate of early school leavers can be estimated at twice that of the overall
population in spite of the fact that specialised schools continue educating a large
number of disabled adolescents and young adults. Nevertheless, an increasing
number of disabled young people have access to tertiary education and the gap
between disabled young people has been decreasing thanks to an increasing
inclusion policy in upper secondary schools and in tertiary education institutions.
Disabled people who are low qualified benefit from special efforts concerning
vocational training of low qualified people in general with some amendments. This
translates into an increased access to apprenticeship, whereas the number of
qualifying contracts between disabled people and companies have been decreasing.
The main difficulty lies in the fact that the prevalence of disability tends to grow and
that in spite of the reduction of the gap between disabled persons and the overall
population in terms of education, disability continues to limit access to the job market
although the number of companies employing at least one disabled person keeps
increasing.
The social system and the recent possibility to combine the allowance for disabled
people and occupational earnings to some extent protects disabled people with a
disability over 50% against the poverty risk rather well. It might be more difficult for
those who have a disability under 50% if they cannot find a job as the guaranteed
minimum income combined with housing benefit is under the poverty line. This
appears to be reflected in the in-work poverty rate for disabled people.
The visibility of disability issues has increased in government policies, as shown by

the Interministerial Committee for disability which meets more and more often, and
many measures have been taken in respect of the CSRs as regards disabled people.
The French government aims to raise the awareness of all professionals and also the
2
citizens to questions of disability and of inclusion, which is an important key to

success and should be continued.
2 Assessment of the situation of disabled people with respect to the Europe

2020 headline targets
2.1 Strategic targets
Table 1: Europe 2020 and agreed national targets for the general population
Europe 2020 targets National targets1
Employment 75% of the 20-64 year- 75%
olds to be employed
Education Reducing the rates of 9.5%
early school leaving below
10%
At least 40% of 30-34– 50% (17-33 year olds)
year-olds completing third
level education
Fighting poverty and At least 20 million fewer 1,900,000
social exclusion people in or at risk of
poverty and social
exclusion
Relevant disability targets from national strategies or sources:
There are no quantifiable disability targets to mirror the EU2020 goals.
A second national conference of disability took place in May 2016 and the
Interministerial Committee for disability, which was created in 2009 and which is in
charge of defining, coordinating and evaluating the policies of the Sate towards
disabled persons, met again in December 2016 and in September 2017. Following
the one in 2016 14 priority actions were defined 2 although most convey intentions
and are not translated into quantified targets except in terms of financial budgets and
timetables:
 Make education more inclusive at every level,

 Improve the accessibility of employment and job retention (including the
increase of the contingency of financial support allocated to adapted companies
and home-work distribution centres to 500 additional full-time jobs).
 Support citizenship and social inclusion,
 Develop innovative solutions thanks to digital technology,
 Develop inclusive accommodation,
1
http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/pdf/targets_en.pdf.
2
http://www.gouvernement.fr/sites/default/files/contenu/piece-jointe/2016/12/cih_2016_-
_releve_de_decisions_et_mesures.pdf.
3
 Improve the compensation of disability (including the suppression of the limit

age of 75 to benefit from the disability compensation benefit when the person
had been eligible before the age of 60)
 Support families and their aiding relatives,
 Reinforce and make the medico-social offer more inclusive,
 Reinforce the accessibility of prevention and cares,
 Prepare for the 4th autism plan,
 Better take into account mental disability,
 Improve the caring for multiple disability,
 Improve the accessibility of right,
 Reinforce the interministerial supervision.
The 2017 press pack3 following the 2017 Interministerial committee it described
objectives related to:
 The access to rights,

 The support to paths from the day nursery to the University,
 The access to the job market like any person,
 Living at home and keeping healthy,
 Citizenship, accessibility of the city, access to hobbies and culture.
Some of these objectives are quantified:
 The amount of the benefit for disabled adults (900 €),

 The number of partnerships between the departmental services for the disabled
persons which are services implemented in each administrative department in
charge of administrative procedures4 and the services which are intended to
every person,
 The number of ULIS5 schemes which should be created in 5 years in upper
secondary schools (250)
 The part of universities engaged in directing 6 scheme (100% in 5 years),
 The rate and the duration of schooling which should be the same ones for
disabled children and teenagers as for the others,
 The number of specialised teaching units externalised from the socio-medical
sector to ordinary schools which should double in 5 years,
 2000 young people engaged in a civil service in favour of inclusion of disabled
adolescents in Universities by 2019,
 At least 6% of disabled apprentices in the public sector,
 100% of the institutions engaged in move in favour of accessibility by 2022.
2.1.1 A note on the use of EU data
3
http://handicap.gouv.fr/presse/dossiers-de-presse/article/comite-interministeriel-du-handicap-du-
20-septembre-2017.
4
Maisons départementales pour les droits et l’autonomie des personnes handicapées, MDPH.
5
Unités locales d’enseignement, disposals aimed at supporting inclusive education.
6
See section 4.2.
4
Unless specified, the summary statistics presented in this report are drawn from 2015
EU-SILC micro data.7 The EU-SILC sample includes people living in private
households and does not include people living in institutions. The proxy used to
identify people with disabilities (impairments) is whether ‘for at least the past 6
months’ the respondent reports that they have been ‘limited because of a health
problem in activities people usually do’. 8 Responses to this question vary between
countries and national data sources are added for comparison, where available.
In 2015 there was a break in the German data (with significantly reduced prevalence
estimates). As Germany is a very large country, this affected both the German
national indicators and EU average indicators for this year. For example, the EU28
average disability prevalence indicator decreased between 2014 and 2015 but
increased, as in previous years, if Germany is excluded. A similar trend is evident for
the EU average employment rate of persons.
Table 2: Self-reported ‘activity limitations’ as a proxy for impairment/disability

(EU-SILC 2015)
Prevalence of self-reported 'activity limitation'

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0
Not limited
All 'limited'
Strongly limited
Limited to some extent
Women
Men
Age 16-64
Age 65+
Source: EUSILC UDB 2015 – version of October 2017
In subsequent tables, these data are used as a proxy to estimate ‘disability’ equality
in the main target areas for EU2020 – employment, education and poverty risk. 9 The
7
EUSILC UDB 2015 – version of October 2017.
8
The SILC survey questions are contained in the Minimum European Health Module (MEHM)
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Glossary:Minimum_European_Heal
th_Module_(MEHM).
9
The methodology is further explained in the annual statistical reports of ANED, available at
5
tables are presented by disaggregating the estimated proportion of people who report
and do not report limitations for each indicator (e.g. among those who are employed,
unemployed, at risk of poverty, etc.).
Additional sources of national data
The most recent data concerning the prevalence of disability are the ones dealt with
by Dares. The population Dares refers to is composed of two groups:
- People declaring they have an administrative recognition;

- People declaring they have an administrative recognition and people declaring
they have a durable or chronicle disease or health problem and they have been
limited for at least 6 months in usual activities because of a health problem.
The second group is considered of a group of people “in a disability situation”.
On these bases 6.4% of people aged 15-64 have an administrative recognition,

14.5% can be considered as disabled. These rates have slightly increased in 2015
compared to 2013. Data show a continuing increase in the prevalence of disability
among the population of working age whereas it has been decreasing from 2013 to
2015 in the EU. As a result, the estimated prevalence is higher in France than the EU
average. This increase in opposition with the EU average mainly concerns men and
persons declaring being “limited to some extend”.
2.2 Employment data
Table 3: Most recent employment data, aged 20-64
Overview of employment rates

80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
%
0.0
lit
y y y en en en en al
bi bilit bilit m m m m tot
di
sa
di
sa
di
sa wo led wo led led
e e ed ab ed ab ab
No at er bl Di
s bl -d
is Di
s
d er Sev Disa disa n
M
o n- No
No
http://www.disability-europe.net/theme/statistical-indicators.
6
Table 4: Employment rate data, by age group
Employment rates by age group

100.0
90.0
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
%
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
age 16-24* age 25-34 age 35-44 age 45-54 age 55-64
Table 5: Trends in employment by gender and disability (aged 20-64)
National trends in employment rates

90.0
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
%
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Source: EUSILC UDB 2015 – version of October 2017 (and preceding UDBs)
The table above shows a comparison of national employment trends for disabled and
non-disabled women and men, and compares this with the EU2020 headline
indicator for the EU as a whole.
7
Alternative data on disability and employment provided by the national expert:
The Employment survey (enquête emploi) which aims at describing the situation of
people on the labour market is conducted every year and concerns people aged 15
to 64. The last results published by INSEE concern the year 2016. 10 Some data have
been published by INSEE concerning employed disabled people (see “employment).
INSEE data for the year 2015 produced by DARES are based on the following
criteria:11
 Employed people are those defined by the international labour organisation;

 Data are limited to people aged up to 64;
 The employment rate is calculated as the number of employed disabled people
as per the number of disabled people.
The survey “enquête Emploi” provides data about the employment rates of disabled
persons in consideration of the two disability criteria defined above as well as the
repartition of the numbers by gender and by age (16-64). They concern the age
group 15-64. The subgroups are 15-24, 25-39, 40-49 and 50-64.
Data concerning the employment rates for each subgroup have been collected for
the year 2015:
Disabled In situation of Overall

people With recognition disability population
Fe
Employed Male m All Male Fem All Male Fem All
35
All 15-64 35% % 35% 46% 44% 45% 67% 61% 64%
15-24 17% 25% 26%
25-39 48% 58% 77%
40-49 45% 57% 82%
50-64 29% 38% 61%
As there is no 20-64 subgroup, so these data are not directly comparable with EU-
SILC. However, it is important to notice the gaps between disabled people and the
overall population.
Some more recent data were published in 2017 concerning the year 2016. 12
The definitions of activity, employment and unemployment used by INSEE are those
of the International labour organisation.13 The data needs reprocessing too.
10
Emploi, chômage, revenus du travail, édition 2017 - Insee Références,
https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/2891765?sommaire=2891780, Travail, santé et handicap (pdf).
11
http://www.insee.fr/fr/methodes/sources/pdf/methodologie_emploi_continu.pdf .
12
Emploi, chômage, revenus du travail, édition 2017 - Insee Références, Fiche Temps et conditions
de travail, § 4.5 Travail, santé et handicap,
http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/docs_ffc/EMPSAL16j_F4_temp-travail.pdf.
13
http://www.insee.fr/fr/methodes/sources/pdf/methodologie_emploi_continu.pdf.
8
Depending on the criteria of disability (administrative recognition / disability situation)

in 2016 the employment rate was 36% or 45% whereas it amounted to 64% for the
overall population.
In 2016, 954,000 workers had an administrative recognition, 53% out of whom where
men. 47% were over 50 against 30% for the overall population. By considering the
criteria of a disability situation, they were 2 569 millions in 2016. 48% of employed
people being in a disability situation were men, 46% were aged from 50 to 64; 32% of
disabled working people having an administrative recognition and 26% of people
being in a disability situation, were workers (against 20% of the whole working
population), respectively 8% and 10% were managers (against 17%).
2.2.1 Unemployment
National administrative rules and definitions of ‘unemployment’ vary, and these may
affect the way in which disabled people are categorised in different countries. The
following tables compare national data with the EU2020 headline indicator for the
EU.
Table 6: Most recent unemployment data, aged 20-64
Overview of unemployment rates

25.0
20.0
15.0
%
10.0
5.0
0.0
Disabled Disabled men Non-disabled Non-disabled Disabled total Non-disabled
women women men total
9
Table 7: Unemployment rate data, by age group
Unemployment rates by age group

35.0
30.0
25.0
20.0
%
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
age 16-24 age 25-34 age 35-44 age 45-54 age 55-64
Table 8: Trends in unemployment by gender and disability (aged 20-64)
National trends in unemployment rates

20.0
18.0
16.0
14.0
12.0
10.0
%
8.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Fluctuations in the gendered tends for people with impairments should be treated
with caution, although the pattern is somewhat similar for those without.
10
Alternative data on disability and unemployment from national sources:
The survey “enquête Emploi 2015” provides data about the unemployment rates of
disabled persons regarding their genders and ages and in consideration of the
disability criteria. These data are dealt with and published by Dares. 14 They concern
the age group 15-64. No age sub-group from 20 was found. INSEE uses the
international definition of unemployment which considers people without any job,
available to work and looking for a job.
Subgroups are the same ones as those for employment. The unemployment rate is
calculated by dividing the number of unemployed people by the number of people in
activity. 2015 data are given by gender and by age:
Disabled Overall
people With recognition In situation of disability population
Mal
Unemployed Male Fem All e Fem All Male Fem All
19
All 20% 17% % 17% 13% 15% 11% 10% 10%
30
15-24 % 34% 26%
19
25-39 % 17% 11%
17
40-49 % 14% 8%
18
50-64 % 13% 7%
2016 data published by INSEE show that 18% of disabled people with an
administrative recognition and 15% of disabled people (against 10% for the overall
population), which represents a slight improvement of the situation of the disabled
people. In addition, when a person is unemployed the probability he/she is
unemployed for at least one year it is 1.5 higher when he/she is disabled.
Agefiph15 provides data from “Pôle Emploi”, the National Agency for Employment
about the number of unemployed disabled persons. Data for the first semester 2017
were found.
They are based on the number of unemployed people who are subject to the
obligation to look for a job. This number includes the number of people having a
reduced activity, which is different from the ILO criterium. At the end of March 2017,
the number of unemployed disabled people amounted to 495 674.
2.2.2 Economic activity
14
http://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/2017-032.pdf.
15
Chiffres clés, Les personne handicapées et l’emploi, juin 2015, Agefiph, fiphfp.
11
Table 9: Most recent economic activty data, aged 20-64
Overview of economic activity rates

100.0
90.0
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
%
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
Disabled Disabled men Non-disabled Non-disabled Disabled total Non-disabled
women women men total
Table 10: Activity rate data, by age group

Activity rates by age group
120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
%
40.0
20.0
0.0
age 16-24 age 25-34 age 35-44 age 45-54 age 55-64
12
Table 11: Trends in activity rates by gender and disability (aged 20-64)
National trends in economic activity rates

100.0
90.0
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
%
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
13
Alternative data on disability and economic activity provided by the national

expert:
INSEE defines the population in activity as the total of people having a job and
unemployed people (as defined above). Data published by INSEE concern people
aged from 15 to 64. This leads to lower rates than for the age group 20-64 as activity
rates are lower for younger people.
From 2013 data dealt with by Dares about inactive people, it is possible to calculate
the following rates by gender and by age concerning active people:
Disabled In situation of Overall

people With recognition disability population
Active Male Fem All Male Fem All Male Fem All
All 44% 42% 43% 55% 51% 53% 76% 68% 72%
15-24 25% 33% 35%
25-39 59% 70% 87%
40-49 55% 66% 89%
50-64 36% 44% 66%
2016 data published by INSEE drive to rates of 44% for the people having an
administrative recognition and 53% for those without compared to 72% for the rest of
the population.
2.3 Education data
EU statistical comparisons are more limited concerning the education of young

disabled women and men in the EU2020 target age groups. Data is available from
EU-SILC (annually) as well as the Eurostat Labour Force Survey ad-hoc disability
module (for 2011), but with low reliability for several countries on the key measures. 16
Using a wider age range can improve reliability but estimations by gender remain
indicative. EU trends are evident but administrative data may offer more reliable
alternatives to identify national trends, where available. Confidence intervals for the
disability group are wide on both indicators at the national level but reliable at the EU
level. An average over several years may provide a more robust national indication.
There was also a change from ISCED 1997 to ISCED 2011 qualification definitions in
2014 although some Member States continued to use the older definition in 2015.
2.3.1 Early school leavers
The EU-SILC sample for the target age group (aged 18-24) includes the following
number of people reporting activity ‘limitation’ (as a proxy for impairment/disability).
16
For the LFS AHM data see, Early school leavers http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?
dataset=hlth_de010&lang=en
and for tertiary educational attainment http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?
dataset=hlth_de020&lang=en.
14
Table 12: EU-SILC sample size in the target age group 18-24 versus 18-29
Age 18-24 Age 18-29
No activity Activity No activity Activity
‘limitation’ ‘limitation’ ‘limitation’ ‘limitation’
EU sample 32,733 2,673 54,418 4,840
National
sample 1,700 154 2,761 263
Table 13: Early school leavers aged 18-24 (indicative based on above sample
size)
Early school leavers

30.0
25.0
20.0
15.0
%
10.0
5.0
0.0
Disabled young Non-disabled (18-24) Disabled young Non-disabled (18-29)
people (18-24) people (18-29)
Note: The confidence intervals for disability group are large and so the reliability is
low. It may be more useful to consider an average of several years.
Alternative data on disability and early school leavers provided by the national
expert:
The French Education Ministry uses the criteria of “early school leavers” to estimate
the level of education of the whole population. It is defined as the number of young
people aged 18-24 who have not taken any course for the last 4 weeks and who
have at most a lower secondary degree (“brevet des collèges”). 17 The rate of early
school leavers for the whole population in 2015, which is calculated from the INSEE
data about employment, was established at 8.9%. 2013, 2014 and 2015 data are
provisional.
We have not found any specific data about early school leaving concerning the
disabled people.
As for the disabled students aged 18-24 and having no education nor holding any
secondary/tertiary degree it is all the more difficult to collect relevant data as there
are various data about the number of disabled persons as a whole.
17
Minstère de l’éducation nationale, de l’enseignement supérieur et de la recherche, Référence et
repères statistiques, 2016,
http://cache.media.education.gouv.fr/file/2016/97/5/depp_rers_2016_614975.pdf, § 8.24 Le niveau
d’étude à la sortie du système éducatif.
15
 The DRESS18 provides statistics about the number of children being taken care
by an institution and not going to school. The problem is that there are double
data as some children can be taken care by several institutions.
 Rapport Blanc19 estimates the number of children not being taken care by an
institution and not going to school from the DRESS data concerning the
disabled children for whom a financial allocation and a school
orientation/adaptation was asked for. It concerns children aged 6-16.
We tried to make an estimation of early school leavers from the analyses of the
structures of schooled children and adolescents.
As far as secondary education is concerned, the French Ministry for Education

provides data about:
 The repartition by age of the whole population going either to school or to the
university, including those who benefit from an institute schooling, 20 These data
are produced every year and the last ones concern the university year 2015-
2016
 The repartition by age of the disabled population going to an ordinary school or
being schooled by an institute, without any double data for children having
shared schooling.21 Data concerning the university year 2015-2016 were
collected from de DEPP. They don’t include tertiary education as for students
being schooled in an ordinary school or in a university in 2014-2015 as for the
ones who are schooled in a special setting. The number of children and
teenagers being admitted in a special setting as well as their repartition by age
is stable, which makes it possible to estimate their number in 2015 as the same
one as in 2014.The repartition by age of the disabled population going to an
ordinary school. Data concerning the university year 2015-2016 22 were collected
from de DEPP. They don’t include tertiary education:
As far as tertiary education is concerned, please see 2.3.2 (later).
Finally we can only estimate the number of disabled young people aged over 18 and
receiving secondary or tertiary education from the number of disabled children over
18 studying at a secondary level on one side and the number of students studying at
university on the other side, without any information about the second ones’ ages
except the fact that the middle age for graduating from upper secondary education is
18.5 years.23 In addition the number of disabled young peoples counted having
secondary education are those who have an administrative recognition whereas the
number of young people counted having tertiary education are the ones who
declared themselves as disabled with administrative recognition or as limited so that
the total number of disabled young people having education after the age of 18 mixes
18
Direction de la recherche, des études, de l’évaluation et des statistiques, série statistiques, n°17,
mars 2013, résultats de l’enquête ES 2010.
19
Rapport au président de la république, La scolarisation des enfants handicapés, Par Monsieur
Paul Blanc, Sénateur des Pyréennées-Orientales.
20
DEPP-RERS-2017-1.4-population-scolaire-_enseignement-superieur-AGE_225547.xls.
21
DEPP-NI-2015-10-donnees-scolarisation-jeunes-handicapes_214560.xls, Gra 11.
22
DEPP-RERS-2017- 3.9.
23
SantESiHof, see 1.3.2.
16
up different accounting criteria. However, the students who declare themselves as

disabled or limited also declare they benefit from disposals, so that we can consider
that these students have administrative recognition.
So it is possible to estimate the proportion of people aged over 18 still being school
by the total number of schooled disabled people and to compare it with the same rate
in the overall population. As DARES provides data about disability prevalence for the
population aged over 15, it is also possible to calculate the rate of schooled people
after the age of 15.
2.3.2 Tertiary education
The EU-SILC sample for the target age group (aged 30-34) includes the following
number of people reporting activity ‘limitation’ (a proxy for impairment/disability)
although the number of missing observations is larger than the number of
observations for activity limitation.
Table 14: EU-SILC sample size for the target age group 30-34 versus 30-39
Age 30-34 Age 30-39
No activity Activity No activity Activity
‘limitation’ ‘limitation’ ‘limitation’ ‘limitation’
EU sample 23,233 2,793 49,559 6,572
National
sample 1,171 141 2,465 350
Table 15: Completion of tertiary or equivalent education (indicative based on

above sample)
Completion of tertiary education

60.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
%
20.0
10.0
0.0
Disabled young Non-disabled (30-34) Disabled young Non-disabled (30-39)
people (30-34) people (30-39)
The survey sample is not sufficient to provide robust trend data disaggregated by
gender in the narrow EU2020 target age group. In general the achievement of tertiary
education was higher for women than for men in both disabled and non-disabled
groups.
17
Table 16: Trends in tertiary education by disability (aged 30-34)
Indicative trends in tertiary education rates

60.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
%
20.0
10.0
0.0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Fluctuations in trends for people with impairments should be treated with caution at
the national level.
Alternative data on disability and tertiary education provided by the national

expert:
DARES provides data about the level of education of disabled people aged 15-64
and of the whole population. Data 2013 showed that for the 15-64 sample 11% (men
with administrative recognition) to 19% (women facing an activity limitation)
graduated at a tertiary education level, against 27 to 31% for the whole population,
which is 1.5 to 2.5 times less than for the overall population.
No more recent data were found concerning the whole population (employed or non-
employed).
2015 data24 where found concerning employed disabled people, from which 21 % of
disabled people aged 16-64 with administrative recognition and 26 % of disabled
aged 16-64 people in a situation of disability graduated at a tertiary level against 39
% for the overall population. Compared with the same data for the year 2013, 25 all
these data have been increasing from respectively 18%, 23% and 36%.
The Ministry for Higher Education provides data from anonymous enquiries
conducted in universities and in all the schools providing tertiary education. Students
24
Dares analyses, May 2017, N°32.
25
Synthèse.Stat, N°17; November 2015, Emploi et chômage des personnes handicapées.
18
are asked if they are disabled or have limitations and if they access to support as a
result of it. The data of the French Ministry of Higher Education 26 concern all the
young people enrolled in tertiary education. Overall data have been found for the
university year 2054-2016. There is no data allowing for making breakdown by age
and by graduation for students with disabilities enrolled at this level. During the
university year 2015-2016, 23 257 students studying at a tertiary level declared a
disability or a limitation, which represents 1.22% of the student population studying at
a tertiary level like in 2014-2015.
A survey about the becoming of former disabled students was carried out from June
2013 and September 2014 among students who had left university between 2007
and 2013 by the research team SantESiHof 27 the University of Montpellier with the
support of the French Ministry of Higher Education and Agefiph and the participation
of the SAEH, welcoming services for disabled students which have been established
in the French universities since the law of 2005.
A former survey conducted from 2007 to 2011 by INSHEA within the OECD project
on transition of young adults with disabilities to tertiary education and to
employment28 under the direction of Professor Ebersold makes it possible to compare
the data with the other OECD countries. Some of the results of these surveys are
reported in the description section.
2.4 Poverty and social exclusion data
EU SILC data provides indicators of the key risks for people with disabilities. In
addition to household risks of low work intensity, there are risks of low income (after
social transfers), and material deprivation. These three measures are combined in
the overall estimate of risk. The risks for older people do not include work intensity
(Eurostat refers to the age group 0-59 for this measure). The survey does not
distinguish ‘activity limitation’ (the proxy for impairment/disability) for children under
the age of 16. Relevant data provided by the national expert is added where
available.
26
https://www.sup.adc.education.fr/handiu_stat/hdrec.htm ,
http://publication.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/eesr/8/EESR8_ES_24-
les_etudiants_handicapes_dans_l_enseignement_superieur.php.
27
http://www.handipole.org/IMG/pdf/Agefiph_Tendances-9.pdf.
28
http://www.inshea.fr/sites/default/files/www/sites/default/files/medias/
rapport_enquete_parcours_.pdf.
19
Table 17: People living in household poverty and exclusion by disability and
risk (aged 16-59)
Main types of household poverty risk

30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
y ity e e ed ed
n sit ns om om iv iv
te te in
c
in
c
epr epr
ki
n in
%
d d
r r k ow ow lly ly
wo wo -l -l ria ial
ed ed e er
ow ow bl bl at at
-l -l si a si a -m -m
ed ed D
n-
d
ed ed
abl abl o bl bl
s is N a a
Di -d Di
s
di
s
n n-
No No
Table 18: People living in household poverty and exclusion by disability and
gender (aged 16+)
Overall poverty risk factors

40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
%
0.0
y y y en en en en
lit lit lit
abi abi abi om m o m m
di
s is is w ed w ed
ed ed ed abl ed abl
No at
ve
r bl
Di
s bl -d
is
er sa isa
od Se Di -d No
n
M n
No
20
Table 19: Overall risk of household poverty or exclusion by disability and age
(aged 16+)
Overall household poverty risk by age

45.0
40.0
35.0
30.0
25.0
%
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
Disabled (16-64) Non-disabled (16-64) Disabled (65+) Non-disabled (65+)
Table 20: Trends in household risk of poverty and exclusion by disability and
age (EU-SILC 2015)
Trends in national risk of household poverty

or social exclusion
35.0
30.0
25.0
20.0
%
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Source: EUSILC UDB 2015 – version of October 2017 (and previous UDB)
Alternative data on disability and risk of poverty or social exclusion provided

by the national expert:
21
In general, the national data used to estimate risks of poverty and social exclusion in
France comes from the same source as the EU-SILC estimates shown here.
France uses specific criteria of risk of poverty as well as the European indicator
made of three indicators: low work intensity, low income (< 60% of the median
income) or severe material deprivation.
The General Inspection for Social Affairs reported in November 2014 29 that it was
difficult to collect information about all the resources people have. Income data are
available from INSEE and from DRESS as far as disabled people are concerned.
Incomes include salaries, incomes from capital, incomes from trade activities and
social aids. It should be nuanced by the taxation which has different impacts on
available incomes.
The General Inspection for social affairs reported that at the end of 2012, 37% of the
people benefiting from the benefit for disabled people were poor regarding the
French criteria of “poverty in living conditions” against 12% for the overall population.
No more recent data were found.
29
Les liens entre handicap et pauvreté, Les difficultés dans l’accès aux droits et aux ressources
http://www.igas.gouv.fr/spip.php?article406.
22
3 Description of the situation and trends in relation to each target area
3.1 Employment
Compared to other EU Member States, France has experienced relatively high

employment rates for the general population in site of a relatively high unemployment
rate and in relation with a relatively high activity rate and with a relatively moderately
narrow disability gap. Both unemployment and economic activity have performed
better than the EU average. However, the 2017 EU Alert Mechanism Report flagged
rising long-term unemployment as a concern.
Depending on the criteria of disability (administrative recognition / administrative

recognition or declaration of limited activity for at least 6 months because of disability
or disease) in 2016 the activity rate of the disabled population aged 15 to 64 was
44% or 53%, while the employment rate was 36% or 45%. Concerning people with
administrative recognition, these rates are not significantly different from those of
2008 but since then the rates of activity and of employment of the people who are
considered as disabled on the second criteria have decreased from 61% and 53%
respectively. The activity rate remains far lower than that for the overall population
(72% activity rate, 64% employment rate) The activity rate is higher for disabled men
than for disabled women. This translates into higher rates of employment and of
unemployment amongst disabled men.
EUSILC’s data show that the activity rate has been relatively stable since 2013 while
it has deteriorated amongst disabled men. At the same time, it has improved among
the overall population and in the EU. This results in lower gaps between disabled
women and disabled men than in the whole EU and in a better activity rate
concerning disabled women in France than in the whole Europe, which is far less the
case as concerns disabled men. This results in a situation which is different from the
one of the overall French population and also from the one of disabled people in the
EU in spite of the fact disabled women are more active than in the whole Europe:
unemployment is lower among disabled women than among disabled men.
As a consequence, employment has been improving among disabled women in

France and has recently deteriorated among disabled men while it tends to improve
among the overall population in the EU, even if the situation of disabled people
regarding employment remains better than in the EU.
According to EUSILC’s data the activity rate among young disabled people is higher
than in the EU but the unemployment rate too. As a result, the employment rate is
only slightly higher than in the EU. The gaps with the overall national population of
the same age group (15-24) are slightly better than in the EU.
As shown by national data, the gap with the overall population is particularly high as
concerns older people which face high unemployment rates compared with the
overall population of the same age group.
According to Insee, the increase of economic activity in France should amount to

1.6% in 2017 and 200,000 jobs should be created at the same time as the active
23
population should decrease, so that the unemployment rate should reach 9.4% by
the end of the year.
According to Agefiph, in 2015, 938,000 disabled persons were employed which

represents an increase of 6.8% in one year in a context where the number of persons
having an administrative recognition of their disabilities rose even faster, which drives
to a slight decrease in the employment rate. In a context where the activity rate has
slightly declined in one year, the unemployment rate follows the same trend. At the
end of March 2017 the number of unemployed disabled people had increased by
1.9% following the increase of the number of active disabled people.
As a result, the trend concerning disabled people does not follow the one for the
overall population: the number of jobs created is not sufficient to lead all the active
persons getting an administrative recognition into employment. In addition, the
number of persons having kept their employments after having been declared disable
has declined by 5% in on year, but at the same time the rate of job retention has
increased by one point, which translates a decrease of the number of people being
declared unfit.
Moreover, during the first semester 2017, Capemploi, the organisation supported by
Agefiph which is in charge of the accompaniment of disabled people registered as
unemployed people, placed 14,900 persons, which represents a decrease of 4% in
one year, partly due to the decrease of the number of subsidised contracts which
concern the people who are farthest from the job market.
According to DARES, gaps between the overall population and persons with
disabilities are partly due to the fact that the latter are older than the overall
population. More than one out of two of them are aged over 50 compared to less
than a third for the total population. However, data show that at every age category
their employment rate is lower than for the rest of the population in the same
subgroups. Additionally, persons with disabilities’ higher unemployment level is also
related to their lower level of qualification. According to Dares, in France, the
probability to access to employment for persons who attained tertiary education is
twice as high than for those who graduated at a NVQ level. However, according to
2017 DARES,30 all things equal otherwise, the probability to access to employment
for those who have an administrative recognition of disability is 3,6 times lower than
for the general population while it is 1,7% for those who face a limitation without
being administratively recognised as disabled.
The employment rate of persons with disabilities is higher in France than the
European average whereas it is less concerning the overall population, which results
in a gap between disabled people and the overall population which is less than the
European average.
On average, disabled working persons are less qualified and have less qualified jobs
than the rest of the population. This can be explained by the lower access to tertiary
education. Disabled people also often work in the sector of “human health and social
action” (21% against 13%). Employed disabled people are more often employed
30
http://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/2017-032.pdf.
24
through a permanent contract than the overall population (80% against 76%). They
often have been doing the same job for more than 10 years (54% against 45%). They
more often work part-time than the overall population (28% against 19%). Those
having an official recognition of disability are working part time for nearly half of them
and are “under-employment” for 9,2% of them (against 7.2% for the overall
population). Women (12.5%) and people aged between 40 and 49 (10.9%) are more
often likely to be underemployed.
The number of self-employed disabled people has increased by 4% during the first
semester 2017compared to the first semester 2016.
While decreasing since 2008, the unemployment rate of persons with disabilities with
an administrative recognition has recently increased and remains far above that for
the overall population (10% in 2016, 9.4% in 2017) despite the stabilization of
unemployment in France. The unemployment rate is particularly significant among
disabled persons aged over 50 and, to a lesser extent to those aged 40 to 49. The
unemployment rate is higher for disabled men than for disabled women whereas the
gap between the genders is rather low in the overall population.
According to Dares, the probability of being unemployed is 2.05 times higher for a
person having an administrative recognition of his/her disability than for the rest of
the population. It is 1.37 times higher for people who have a limitation without an
administrative recognition. In addition, when a person in unemployed the probability
he/she is unemployed for at least one year it is 1.5 higher when he/she is disabled.
Before being unemployed, 39% of the people having an administrative recognition

and 37% of the ones without such a recognition were workers, against 32% for the
overall population. 64% of the people having an administrative recognition who lost
their jobs declared it was for a reason different from the end of a contract; 29% of
them declared it was linked to their health conditions or to their invalidity (against 6%
for the rest of the population).
Published data from the National health and disability survey (HSM) show that
working age people declaring a disability are more likely to feel discriminated than
the general working age population. Those having an employment are less likely to
feel discriminated than those who are working. However, among the population
having an employment, persons declaring a disability are more likely to feel
discriminated at the work place than those who don’t. 31
From Dares, in 2015, 57% of the disabled people having an administrative

recognition are inactive. The inactive disabled population is more masculine as the
overall inactive population aged 16-64. The part of the inactive disabled people
having an administrative recognition who declare they do not want to work is close to
the one of the overall inactive population but while 39% of the inactive people are
studying, only 5% of the disabled inactive people also are. Most of the time they are
invalid.
31
Bouvier, G. et X. Niel (2010). Les discriminations liées au handicap et à la santé. Enquêtes et
études démographiques 1308, INSEE.
25
3.2 Education
France has a relatively low rate of early school leaving for the general population but
the data indicate that the disability gap is slightly wider than might be expected. The
2017 EU Joint Employment Report also highlights the general NEET rate in France
as a situation ‘to watch’. The tertiary education rate remains higher than the EU
average for both disabled and non-disabled populations.
Generally speaking, the disabled persons aged 15-64 are older (54% are more than
50 against 31% for the overall population) and less qualified (40% of the men without
administrative recognition to 47% of the women with administrative recognition have
no degree ore at most graduated at lower secondary level against 28% of the overall
population) than the overall population.
The analysis of the structure per age of children and adolescents having
school/tertiary education shows that much more disabled children leave school after
the age of 14. But this is to consider with caution because the data about disabled
children can also reflect the fact that some of the children no more considered as
schooled disabled children after this age may have left their disability recognition
without leaving school. However, the data, even corrected by the rate of the evolution
of administrative recognition, are significantly different from the ones of the overall
population, especially after 16 years.
It is also important to point out the fact that the schooled population of specialized
institutions continues to increase with age until the age of 15 and decreases slower
after the age of 15 years. However, from the age of 17, and especially from the one
of 18, the schooled population decreases much more significantly for disabled
adolescents than for the overall population. After 18, for the whole schooled
adolescents we have to consider the ones going to the university.
Finally, we can say regarding 2015-2016 data that the proportion of disabled
students aged over 18 enrolled in education (not considering the level) regarding the
whole disabled schooled population can be estimated around 2 times less the
proportion of all the students aged over 18 having education regarding the total
number of students and that it tends to decline (from around 2.5 in 2010 to 1.8 in
2015)
Actually, the level of this ratio is partly due to the fact that the specialized institutions
keep educating around 10,000 adolescents aged over 18 years whereas 29,286
adolescents aged over 18 were schooled in ordinary schools or universities in 2015-
2016, out of which 23,257 at a tertiary level, whereas before the age of 18 the
number of disabled children having education in an ordinary school was almost 4
times the one of children having education in a specialized institution (2.9 times from
the age of 18). This results in the fact that a weaker proportion of disabled young
people go for tertiary education than the overall young population. However, the
number of disabled students keeps increasing whereas the number of students as a
whole is rather stable. It has almost doubled between 2012 and 2017 while the
number of students as a whole has increased by 80.5% between 2011 and 2015.
The increase in the number of disabled students drives to an increase in the
proportion of children and adolescents aged over 18 in the whole schooled disabled
26
population, which results in a reduction of the gap between the inclusion of disabled
children and adolescents before the age of 18 and after the age of 18 and to a
reduction of the gap between the situation of disabled adolescents and all the
adolescents aged over 18, as well as to an increasing level of education of the
disabled persons in which vocational training as supported by Agefiph takes part (the
rate of early school leavers was temporarily estimated at 9.2% in 2015 and 8.8% in
2016).32
However, existing research suggest that disabled learners are less likely to be
successful at school and may not be provided the same skills than the general
population.33
3.3 Poverty and social inclusion
The overall risk of relative poverty after social transfers in France is fairly low,
compared to other EU countries, and this is true also for disabled persons on
average but the in-work poverty risk for the disabled group is higher than might be
expected from this general picture, especially due to low work intensity and mainly
concerns people with a high ratio of disability recognition. 34 In addition, it tends to
increase among young disabled people while it has been decreasing among the
overall population and in the EU.
As shown earlier, the activity rate and the employment rate for disabled people
remain far below those of the general French population and unemployment among
disabled people is twice that of the general French population. Employed disabled
people are older and less educated than employed people on the whole, which also
drives towards less qualified and less paid jobs for disabled people.
Depending on the criteria of disability, disabled employed people more often have a
part-time job be it because they can no longer work because of their impairment, or
because they need special human support for transportation to their workplace, or for
other reasons, which means that ultimately disabled people are lower paid. These
rates have increased in comparison to 2013 data whereas they have kept the same
for the overall population.
People with disabilities are entitled to a benefit that can be combined with housing
benefit, which prevents them from the risk of poverty when their disability is
considered over 80% and when their access to the job market is restricted (work
capacity under 5% or no professional income).
In order to take into account the fact that disabled people with a lower rate of
incapacity also have restricted access to the job market, people whose incapacity
32
DEPP-RERS-2017-8.25, available on http://www.education.gouv.fr/cid57096/reperes-et-
references-statistiques.html.
33
Le Laidier, S. et P. Prouchandy (2012). La scolarisation des jeunes handicapés. Note d’information
12.10, MENESR-DEPP. Le Laidier, S. (2015). À l’école et au collège, les enfants en situation de
handicap constituent une population fortement différenciée scolairement et socialement. Note
d’information 04, MENESR-DEPP.
34
Using corresponding EU-SILC 2014 data extracted from the Eurostat disability database
(hlth_dpe050) http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/health/disability/data/database.
27
rate ranges between 50 and 79% and whose access to the job market has been
recognised as strong and lasting, are now ensured a minimum income through the
benefit for disabled adults and a supplement, which can be combined with housing
benefit, so that they are insured incomes above the poverty line.
The French government recently announced an increase of the amount of the benefit
for disabled adults of € 90 by 2019.
22% of the unemployed disabled people get the benefit for disabled adults, 16% out
of which also benefit from another benefit linked with disability.
At the same time, measures have been taken to favour disabled people at work. For
example, to evaluate the means-testing supports disabled persons are entitled to,
only part of their professional incomes will be taken into account. This enables them
to combine professional incomes with a benefit for disabled adults.
These recent measures prevent disabled people rather well from the poverty risk and
favour motivation of disabled persons, as for those who are considered at least 50%
disabled and as far as their restricted access to the job market has been recognised.
But the main difficulty remains in the accessibility and the adaptability of the job
market, on which these measures have no impact. Supposing a person has been
recognised as disabled after an accident/disease not linked with his/her work with a
reduction of 2/3 of its work capacity, but his/her access to the job market has not
been recognised, if he/she has contributed enough he/she will be allocated a
minimum income of 702 EUR per month which will be combined with housing benefit,
which allows him/her to have a standard of leaving (around 1 000 EUR per month)
which is just below the poverty line.
The situation may be particularly difficult for people with an incapacity under 50%,
people with a disability between 50% and 2/3 whose restriction to the job market has
not been recognised as strong and lasting and for people with an incapacity over 2/3
who have not contributed enough before the onset of impairment and whose
restriction to the job market has not been recognised as strong and lasting, if they
have no professional income. In these cases, they will be allowed the minimum
guaranteed income (€ 545 per month), which is well below the poverty line. Other
measures like housing benefit will ensure them a standard of living which remains
below the poverty line if we consider European criteria.
Actually, the administrative recognition of a limited access to the job market will take
into account the fact that jobs can be adapted or not, which limits the risk of not
having any recognition of one’s limited access to the job market. The highest risk
probably concerns people with a disability under 50%.
Experience are developed to promote working of disabled people who benefit from
disability benefit, making it possible for example to cumulate their benefit and their
salary. The same possibility of cumulation was implemented in 2016 for people
getting the minimum guaranteed income, which could also prevent disabled people
having a disability rate under 50% from poverty risk as far as they are not excluded
from the labour market.
28
Apart from that, we have to consider another impact of the economic crisis which
results in a reduction of the allowance of compensation benefits which, by law,
should be given according to the person’s project or specific needs. For the same
reason expenses for special technical or medical devices are no longer paid back in
the same way by the social security system. From a 100% refund, it has lowered in
some cases to 50%. In addition, the price of many devices has increased. The trend
is to reduce all costs, even if the monthly benefits have increased by 1% in the recent
years.
The population made up of people with disabilities is a very heterogeneous group,

with very different impairments leading to very different education opportunities that
impact in turn their social inclusion. Because of the crisis, social inclusion now has a
high cost in transport, housing, heating, human support, access to culture and leisure
activities. Everything has become more expensive and this makes independent living
a difficult issue for many people who are now facing poverty and sometimes great
poverty. Far from being “independent” they are now “depending” on distribution of
meals, buying in social shops, living in their unheated home or depending on their
family.
The present trend of reducing the financial resources of service providers deprives
people with disabilities from the access to the amount of services they need. This
trend makes them “dependent” on their friends, neighbours and family.
29
4 Assessment of policies in place to meet the relevant headline targets
The 2017 NRP made a number of references to disabled people or to disability

policies, for example in relation to training and apprenticeships, public procurement,
Sunday working and social services. Specific sections were included on ‘better
support’ for disabled people (p. 113) and on promoting inclusive education (pp. 125-
6).
4.1 Employment
In France companies employing more than 20 persons are legally obliged to employ
disabled people. They can employ disabled people either directly or through
subcontracting or hiring of manpower from adapted companies or specialized
workshops. If they don’t they pay for a contribution to Agefiph which is engaged in
overall accompaniment of insertion of disabled people into the labour market. It
supports Cap emploi which in charge of the accompaniment of people registered as
unemployed. Another organisation, Alher, is in charge of mobilising companies in
positive actions in favour of the employment of disabled persons: recruitment, job
keeping, access to qualifications, sub-contracting with adapted companies or
specialized workshops.
Job retention as described in the 2017 NRP concerns the possibility to adapt the
working conditions to the economic situation and to the specificity of the companies
as an alternative to lay-offs. As concerns disabled people it deals with the possibility
to adapt the working conditions with the disabilities of the persons, which may appear
opposing.
In the scope of the measures aiming job retention, redeployment procedures were
simplified. From Agefiph35 the amount of job retention has decreased by 5% between
the first trimester 2016 and the first trimester 2017 but its rate has increased by 1
point to amount to 95%. It seems that the number of persons who have been
declared unfit has decreased.
The 2016 NRP had reported about the accompaniment of people into the labor
market. It had set as an objective to double the number of accompanied persons as
far as the overall population was concerned by 2017 in comparison with 2014). As far
as disabled people are concerned, Capemploi offers a specialised accompaniment
which can rely on external recipients if necessary. The accompaniment includes the
definition of a professional project, the analysis of training needs and the building of a
training project, advice in the job search, the support of the integration and the follow
up inside the company and information about helps and measures in favour of job
retention in case of an evolution of the working situation or of the person’s disability.
Every disable person can benefit from the accompanied employment disposal
(dispositive de l’emploi accompagné)36 aimed at making it possible for disabled
people to get or to keep a job. It consists in medico-social support and in a support to
professional insertion, taking the form of an evaluation of the disabled person’s
35
TN N°17-2, https://www.agefiph.fr/Actus-Publications/Actualites/Vient-de-paraitre-le-tableau-de-
bord-Emploi-et-chomage-des-personnes-handicapees-Bilan-au-1er-semestre-2017.
36
http://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/emploi/insertion-dans-l-emploi/recrutement-et-handicap/article/le-
dispositif-de-l-emploi-accompagne.
30
situation, professional project and competences, the elaboration of a professional

project in favour of an insertion into the ordinary environment, support in job-seeking,
a follow-up of the person at work in order to secure his/her professional path by
facilitating his/her access to training and to competences balance-sheets,
propositions of accommodations of work conditions. The disposal is decided by the
CDAPH in accordance with the disabled person. The accompaniment is provided by
an organisation which may be a social or medico-social service or establishment
target by article L 312-1 of the code for social action and family. 37 It can also be
solicited by the employer in order to prevent difficulties, adapt the working conditions,
and anticipate the employee’s path in the company.
The part of the companies employing at least one disabled person has increased
again and the employment rate and the amount of the contributions keeps
decreasing, which is an indicator of the increase in the rate of disabled people
employed by companies employing more than 20 persons in the scope of the
compulsory employment, directly or indirectly.
From January 2017, as described in the NRP, inactive people are entitled to a tax
credit when they employ a home aid (until then only active people were entitled to
this tax credit). This should enable some disabled inactive people to enter the job
market.
In the scope of the 2017 NRP, measures are being taken to align training
opportunities with employment prospects and economic needs and ensure transitions
on the labour market.
The policy of support to apprenticeship, which is amended concerning disabled

people (primes, tax credits)38 has driven to an increase of 16% of the number of
apprenticeship contracts between disabled persons and companies from the first
trimester 2016 to the first trimester 2017 (at the same time it increased by 1% for the
overall population).39 But in the meantime, the number professionalising contracts
decreased by 24%. Also the decrease of the number of subsidised contracts aiming
at supporting the employment of the unemployed people who meet particular
difficulties in accessing the labour market and including vocational sessions as well
as validation of acquired experience actions drove to a reduction of the number of
disabled persons standing to benefit from these contracts between the first semester
2016 and the first semester 2017 even if the decrease has been less than for the
overall population and the proportion of disabled persons benefiting from these
contracts has increased.
In order to favour the training of less qualified people the personal training account of
less or non-qualified people will be amended. This should benefit to disabled people.
The 2017 EU Joint Employment Report mentioned the introduction of hiring subsidies
in France called ‘subsidy for first job search’. It is intended to people aged less than
37
https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?
cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006074069&idArticle=LEGIARTI000020892821.
38
See Task Social Pillar.
39
Agefiph, TB N°2017-2, https://www.agefiph.fr/Actus-Publications/Actualites/Vient-de-paraitre-le-
tableau-de-bord-Emploi-et-chomage-des-personnes-handicapees-Bilan-au-1er-semestre-2017.
31
28 and having benefitted from a scholarship during their tertiary education period or
having graduated at a tertiary level through an apprenticeship contract. The scope
should be rather limited as far as young disabled people are concerned as their
access to tertiary education is limited but should be a good way of accompanying
and provide a way to all the measures in favour of its development as well as in
favour of the one of apprenticeship and of completing measures in favour of
employment at the end of an apprenticeship contract.
The level of the minimum wage should not have any real impact on the employment
of disabled people as the employers can receive a subsidy (or ‘compensation’) when
employing a worker with more severe disabilities.
4.2 Education
As far as education is concerned, the 2017 NRP put the inclusion of disabled pupils
as an objective for various actions like the professionalisation of school aiding, the
education of teenagers until a level enabling them to concretise their life projects, and
the improvement of schooling in ordinary schools. It also mentions future actions in
favour of the schooling of children with multiple disabilities. In the scope of the
improvement of the access to tertiary education, there is no specific mention of
disabled people.
During the school year 2015-2016, there were 70 000 persons as a whole (25 000
full-time) employed to accompany disabled children in ordinary schools, 122 000
pupils were benefiting from their support, 83 000 individually, 39 000 in small
groups.40 Ulis disposals exist in elementary schools, junior high schools, senior high-
schools and technical colleges.
Inclusion also organises itself around the externalisation of specialised teaching units
from the socio-medical sector. In 2016 103 units had already been externalised. 41
Also in the scope of the “autism plan 2013-2017” 110 preschool units were had been
created to welcome 800 kids during the year 2016-2017. 42
For the year 2016-2016, 9 out of the 10 modules that were organised at a national
scale for2017, the vocational training of teachers 43 were referring to organised at a
national scale concentrated on the specific needs of pupils and students; one of
which theme was targeting inclusion and another one disabled upper secondary
students and professional training in particular.
Data show that these recent policies drive to a reduction of the gap between disabled
children and adolescents in terms of inclusion, especially after the age of 18, and in
terms of level of education.
40
http://www.education.gouv.fr/cid207/la-scolarisation-des-eleves-en-situation-de-handicap.html.
41
http://www.education.gouv.fr/cid102157/conference-nationale-du-handicap-2016-un-point-d-etape-
positif-pour-l-ecole-inclusive.html.
42
http://solidarites-sante.gouv.fr/affaires-sociales/handicap/l-autisme/le-plan-autisme-2013-2017/.
43
Circular n° 2016-119, 25th August 2016, http://www.education.gouv.fr/pid285/bulletin_officiel.html?
cid_bo=105526.
32
In tertiary education, accessibility to digital services and pedagogical accessibility is

still being strengthened, which favours the inclusion of disabled students.
4.3 Poverty and social inclusion
The 2017 NRP includes actions to favour social justice and social inclusiveness and
to redistribute the fruits of the economic growth and this includes some disability
measures.
In the scope of the fight against poverty, as reported by the Interminiterial Comitee
for disability, administrative steps aiming at benefiting from social aids are being
simplified. As far as disabled people are concerned, when their disability is
particularly severe they will be able to be allocated the benefit for disabled adults for
a period of 20 years. The steps to benefit from their retiring pensions will be revised
for disabled people and a link will be done with the benefit for disabled adults
preventing them to ask for the allowance for older people. As reported in the press
pack about the Interministerial comity on disability of September 2017, the amount of
the benefit for disabled people will be increased but at the same time its calculation
will evolve concerning disabled people who live in couple so that the guaranteed
minimum income would be less for couples than before.
At the same time the income supplement and the benefit for autonomous life which
aim at guaranteeing a minimum income of around € 950 per month to disabled
people having the most restrictions to enter the job market will fuse. Right now there
is no information about the amount of the new benefit but supposing it is the one of
the lowest of the two currently existing benefits, the increase of the amount of the
benefit for disabled adults would just compensate the loss due to this fusion. At the
same time these changes would be more in favour of working disabled people.
Disabled people who do not receive any pension, nor the benefit for disabled
persons, are entitled to the minimum income. It theory, this concerns people who
have an incapacity of less than 50% (or between 50 and 79% without any strong
restriction at work). It has been revised to € 524 for a single person since 1 January
2016.
From 2016, there is also a minimum social income for working people who earn low
salaries (prime d’activité). It consists in combining the minimum social income with
earnings to a certain extent. A working single person can reach a maximum of
around € 1,500 per month by combining earnings and the activity incentive.
Disabled people who do not get the benefit for disabled adults and who work can get
it too. It can encourage them to look for a job and prevent them from the risk of
poverty (the minimum social income alone and housing benefit are not enough to
prevent people from this risk).
Adult people who are declared permanently disabled at a minimum level of 80% are
entitled to an allowance for disabled adults as far as they are not entitled to any
retirement/oldness/disability pension other than a benefit aimed at affording
permanent human help (MTP, see below) nor to any impairment pension other than a
benefit aimed at affording human help amounting at least to the same level as this
33
benefit for disabled adults. The allowance for disabled adults44 is also allowed to
people who have a permanent incapacity ranged between 50 and 79% and whose
restricted access to the work market has been recognised as strong and lasting and
not being compensated by working conditions layouts. The allowance for disabled
people can be combined with housing benefit, so that people who are eligible are
protected against poverty risk.
The adaptation of the calculation of the allowance for disabled people (AAH) which
was decided in 2016 results in not taking into account the entire salary of disabled
people when considering the maximum reference income. It is reduced of 80% (that
is to say only 20% will be considered) for the part below 30% of the minimum brut
salary, that is to say for the part under 30% x € 17,599 per year, and of 40% (that is
to say only 60% will be taken into account) for the part exceeding 30% of the
minimum brut salary. This should be much encouraging for disabled people as far as
the labour market has the capacity to adapt people situations.
Following the principle of association of people in poverty and precariousness

situation to the follow and the evaluation of policies against poverty and
precariousness the participation of disabled people into policies concerning them is
illustrated by the involvement of associations of disabled people into the Conferences
of disability which allow to extend the National Reform Program to disabled people.
4.4 Synergies between developments in the different areas
The increase in the allowances for disabled people allows to prevent disabled people
with a strong access to the labour market from the risk of poverty rather well. The
ones who have a disability rate under 50% are at a higher risk in a context were
disabled people are particularly hit by unemployment. The changes which have been
introduced into the calculations to attribute the allowances are suitable to encourage
disabled people with a capacity over 50% to work.
The main challenge lies in the capacity of the labour market to adapt working
conditions to disabled people and to develop a culture of difference, and of the
government to ensure the improvement of the qualification of disabled people and to
put emphasis on the accompaniment of inclusion of disabled people. It seems that
the challenge is rather well risen to if we consider the increasing number of
companies employing disabled people, the increasing rate of job keeping and the
reduction of the gap between disabled young people and the overall young
population in terms of inclusion and of education.
It seems that the stable rate of unemployment is mainly due to the fact that the
number of disabled people increases faster than the number of employed disabled
people than the one of active disabled people. At the same time, it seems that the
French government tends to brake the number of recognitions of unfit situations,
which limits the number of job losses and makes it possible to improve (to limit less)
the curve of the number of disabled employed people or puts a brake on the
increasing number of recognitions of disabilities.
44
AAH on https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCode.do;?
idSectionTA=LEGISCTA000006141693&cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006073189&dateTexte=2008092
3 and on https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F12242.
34
As concerns young people, in spite of a low rate of early school leavers compared
with EU, their unemployment rate is relatively high and the efficiency of the education
system in fostering transition to work may be questioned.
35
5 Review of the European Semester from a disability perspective
5.1 Progress on disability-specific Country Specific Recommendations

(CSRs)
There were no disability-specific CSRs in 2017 and disability was not mentioned in
the Recommendation of the Council. 45
5.2 Progress on other CSRs from a disability perspective
The four Recommendations deal with managing the deficit, consolidate the measures
reducing the cost of labour in a budget neutral manner, improve the access to the
labour market especially for the less qualified workers and the simplification
administrative procedures concerning the creation of economic activity.
The recommendation which most concerns disabled people is the one about the
access to the labour market. The progress of apprenticeships is an indicator of the
improvement of the level of qualification of the disabled people who are low qualified
but it must not hide an overall decrease in vocational training.
Disabled people are over-represented among jobseekers and ‘low-qualified workers’.

For this reason, when ‘revising the system of vocational education and training’ it is
essential that their needs are carefully considered and outcomes monitored during
the next policy cycle.
5.3 Assessment of disability issues in the Country Report (CR)
The 2017 Country Report made no reference to disability/handicap anywhere in the

text. It reports on the increased active labour market policy measures targeting low-
skilled young people which have succeeded in reducing low-qualified youth
unemployment. It evaluates the effect of subsidised contracts which are considered
as positive in the short-term but which “fail to foster sustainable inclusion in the
labour market”. “Also, some weaknesses were identified in Youth Guarantee
implementation in terms of outreach, information and coordination between actors
(European Commission, 2016c)”.
There would be opportunity to highlight the situation of disabled people in relation to

unemployment, for example where the report refers to persistent high unemployment
for ‘some categories of workers’ facing ‘difficulties in accessing the labour market’, or
in relation to long-term unemployment. The gender gap in the labour market is clearly
signalled but not the disability gap. The targeting of active labour market policies
refers to ‘low-skilled young people’ and subsidised contracts but does not mention
the over-representation of young disabled people in these groups, nor in relation to
the analysis of education and training reforms. The analysis of poverty risks refers to
‘more vulnerable groups’ but fails to mention the disability poverty gap, including the
in-work disability poverty gap.
45
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32017H0809%2809%29.
36
It also mentions the measures to improve school and career guidance of pupils,
which concerns disabled children and adolescents among others and in particular as
in a 2016 circular.46
46
Circulaire n° 2016-058 du 13-4-2016, http://www.education.gouv.fr/pid285/bulletin_officiel.html?
cid_bo=100720.
37
6 Assessment of the structural funds ESIF 2014-2020 or other relevant

funds in relation to disability challenges
The structural funds ESIF concentrate on priorities among which employment,

vocational training and social inclusion are one which benefit from most advanced
programs. There is no mention of the use of the funds regarding disabled people in
particular in the 2017 NRP.
The Partnership Agreement for 2014-2020 made reference to disabled people for
example in Thematic Objective 9 on social inclusion and transposition of the ex-ante
conditions arising from the UN CRPD. 47 France’s policy initiatives aim at improving
employment opportunities of excluded people, including disabled people. They
encompass vocational courses aiming at promoting employment by combining social
as well a professional support. They focus on improvement of the coordination
among stakeholders involved in supporting the most exposed to unemployment and
poverty, especially in innovating sectors. Synergies between social and professional
services supporting inclusion of these groups of people are embedded in regional
programs mobilizing ESIF funds through budget amendments.
In practice, ESIF funds in France are allocated through 83 national, interregional and
regional programmes which makes it difficult to track the extent to which they are
being used for the benefit of disabled people at the implementation level of funded
projects.
A list dated 2017/08/23 of operations supported by funds ESIF in the scope the
structural funds ESIF 2014-2020 was published. 104 out of 9 351 operations concern
disability challenges directly or in the scope of a larger problematic. 47,6 M were
planned for operations concerning disability challenges out of 3 032,4 M Euros which
were planned for these operations.
47
http://www.europe-en-france.gouv.fr/content/download/27819/257169/file/Accord%20de
%20partenariat.pdf.
38
7 Recommendations
In the light of existing data, prevention of long term unemployment appears to be a

key concern and there is a need to develop initiatives aiming at improving
employment opportunities of disabled people, especially of disabled men.
Such an aim may build upon policies allowing for improving the level of qualification
of persons with disabilities by reducing drop out and early school leaving of learners
with disabilities. Existing data stress the need to shift from quantitative approach to
inclusive education focusing on placement in mainstream settings to a more
qualitative approach emphasising on flexible teaching and support and personalised
learning
Such an aim may also be achieved by strengthening their access to meaningful and
efficient VET opportunities as well as their ability to match people’s qualification with
the expectations from the labour market. Pursuing the trend allowing for increasing
the possibilities to access to high quality apprenticeship opportunities may be an
important option to consider.
Improvement of employment opportunities may also be achieved by strengthening

the ability of employment support services to raise the rate of job retention of persons
with disabilities or with long term health problems. It may also be attained by
improving the ability of disability support services to match guidance and training
services with job seekers’ and labour markets’ needs.
In-work poverty has been partially tackled through the combination of the AAH with
other incomes as concerns disabled people whose level of incapacity is higher than
50%. It is also taken into account through the minimum social income which can also
be combined with salaries to some extent. However, there seems to be a need to
consider vulnerabilities faced by people whose level of incapacity is lower than 50%.
There is a need to improve existing monitoring mechanisms by gathering data

allowing for identifying the level of accessibility of services and premises as well as
the enabling effect of existing services and initiatives in terms of education,
employment and, more generally, citizenship issues.
39

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European Semester 2017/2018 country fiche on disability

Report prepared by:

With comparative data provided by the ANED core

The Academic Network of European Disability experts (ANED) was established by

1 Summary of the overall situation and challenges.................................................2

1 Summary of the overall situation and challenges

The visibility of disability issues has increased in government policies, as shown by

citizens to questions of disability and of inclusion, which is an important key to

2 Assessment of the situation of disabled people with respect to the Europe

2.1 Strategic targets

Relevant disability targets from national strategies or sources:

There are no quantifiable disability targets to mirror the EU2020 goals.

 Make education more inclusive at every level,

 Improve the compensation of disability (including the suppression of the limit

 The access to rights,

Some of these objectives are quantified:

 The amount of the benefit for disabled adults (900 €),

2.1.1 A note on the use of EU data

Table 2: Self-reported ‘activity limitations’ as a proxy for impairment/disability

Prevalence of self-reported 'activity limitation'

Limited to some extent

Source: EUSILC UDB 2015 – version of October 2017

- People declaring they have an administrative recognition;

The second group is considered of a group of people “in a disability situation”.

On these bases 6.4% of people aged 15-64 have an administrative recognition,

2.2 Employment data

Table 3: Most recent employment data, aged 20-64

Overview of employment rates

Table 4: Employment rate data, by age group

Employment rates by age group

Table 5: Trends in employment by gender and disability (aged 20-64)

National trends in employment rates

Alternative data on disability and employment provided by the national expert:

 Employed people are those defined by the international labour organisation;

Disabled In situation of Overall

Depending on the criteria of disability (administrative recognition / disability situation)

Table 6: Most recent unemployment data, aged 20-64

Overview of unemployment rates

Table 7: Unemployment rate data, by age group

Unemployment rates by age group

Table 8: Trends in unemployment by gender and disability (aged 20-64)

National trends in unemployment rates

Alternative data on disability and unemployment from national sources:

2.2.2 Economic activity

Table 9: Most recent economic activty data, aged 20-64

Overview of economic activity rates

Table 10: Activity rate data, by age group

National trends in economic activity rates

Alternative data on disability and economic activity provided by the national

Disabled In situation of Overall

2.3 Education data

EU statistical comparisons are more limited concerning the education of young

2.3.1 Early school leavers

Early school leavers

As far as secondary education is concerned, the French Ministry for Education

As far as tertiary education is concerned, please see 2.3.2 (later).

up different accounting criteria. However, the students who declare themselves as

2.3.2 Tertiary education

Table 15: Completion of tertiary or equivalent education (indicative based on

Completion of tertiary education

Table 16: Trends in tertiary education by disability (aged 30-34)

Indicative trends in tertiary education rates

Alternative data on disability and tertiary education provided by the national