User:Jukim20/sandbox

Supported employment around the world
Supported employment services may be provided as direct vocational support to job seekers with disabilities, or in the form of affecting demand for labor through employment policies. From an international perspective, examples of employment schemes used on employers to generate an expansion of job opportunities for persons with disabilities (PWDs) include employment incentive structure and minimum employment quota. The employment incentive system is a financial measure taken in an open employment environment to integrate PWDs into workforce and may encompass benefits such as wage subsidies and funding for adaptations to the work environment. The minimum employment quota is a legislative affirmative action that attempts to create equal opportunity for persons with disabilities by ensuring that a proportion of employees consist of PWDs. The two schemes are not mutually exclusive and may be used in hybridity.

Hong Kong
The Labor Department of the Hong Kong Government provides free supported employment services under the Selective Placement Division (SPD), which was established in 1980. The SPD launched the Work Orientation and Placement Scheme (WOPS) in 2013, serving to incentivize employers to hire job seekers with disabilities. Through WOPS, participating employers are granted a maximum total allowance of 51,000 HKD per employee with disabilities who have employment difficulties and 30,000 HKD per employee with disabilities who do not employment difficulties. The allowance, respectively, is divided through nine months and six months of employment. The employers participating in WOPS are required to have a mentor staff that can provide on-the-job support for the new employee, and the length of the employment contract must be 3 months or longer. Furthermore, WOPS provides short term pre-employment training to job seekers to strengthen their chance of employment. After completing the pre-employment training, the trainees receive an allowance of $80 per training day.

The Social Welfare Department of the Hong Kong Government also provides employment assistance to job seekers with disabilities through Supported Employment (SE) and Support Programme for Employees with Disabilities (SPED). SE provides sheltered workshops to train individuals with disabilities that are unable to obtain open employment. SE service includes employment counseling, job finding and matching, follow-through support and employment-related skills training. On the other hand, SPED is an incentive system for the employers initiated in 2014 to aid employees with disabilities to retain their status as an employee in open employment. SPED provides one-off-subsidy to participating employers for modifying the workspace to accommodate for special needs or equipping the workplace with assistive devices that can enhance the work efficiency of workers with disabilities. The level of subsidy is capped at 20,000 HKD per employee with disabilities.

Singapore
Initiated by the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) in 2014, the Open Door Programme (ODP) encourages employers to provide employment opportunities to individuals with disabilities and to create an accessible work environment for the employees with special needs. Through the ODP, the employers receive Job Redesign Grant up to $20,000 per employee with disabilities, supporting up to 90% of the costs of redesigning the job scopes to accommodate the employees’ conditions. Moreover, the employers are incentivized to provide special training for PWDs as 90% of the training course fee is funded by the ODP. As of 2015, the Singaporean Government has subsidized 3.2 million SGD through the Open Door Fund.

In addition, the Special Employment Credit (SEC) started to provide budget initiatives to the employers in 2012 by funding 16% of the monthly wages of employees with disabilities who earn up to 4,000 SGD per month. To encourage re-employment, Additional Special Employment Credit, which funds 22% of the employee’s monthly wages, was initiated in 2015 as an amendment to the SEC program. Singapore Workforce Development Agency also provides Workfare Schemes, which tops up the wages of the employees with Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) and encourages employers to educate the employees with Workfare Training Support (WTS). WIS provides annual payouts capped at 4,000 SGD in terms of monthly cash and life annuity scheme called Central Provident Fund to aid expenditure and retirement savings for employees with disabilities. WTS subsidizes 95% of the training fees in addition to 95% of absentee payroll for the employee in training.

China
China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF), a national nonprofit organization founded in 1988, provides supported employment to job seekers with disabilities through free services such as consultation, rehabilitation and training for employment, and job referrals.

In 2008, a quota system that aims to protect the employment of persons with disabilities was established under Regulations on the Employment of Persons with Disabilities, through which the Chinese Government mandates all public and private organizations to secure at least 1.5% of job opportunities to PWDs. The exact percentage of quota varies amongst different provinces in China but is no less than 1.5%. Employers that fail to meet the quota must pay proportionate amounts of penalty to the Disabled Employment Security Fund (DESF). The revenue resulting from the levies is disbursed to provide supported employment in forms of vocational training and job placement career services. Employers that satisfy or surpass the quota are subsidized through taxation benefits, cash rewards and technical assistance to incentivize employment of job seekers with disabilities.

Regulations on the Employment of Persons with Disabilities also encourage self-employment by assisting PWDs with starting their own enterprises. The government helps PWDs who engage in entrepreneurial activities by providing tax exemptions and assistance in obtaining a workplace and licenses.