SOCIAL ENTERPRISES AS A TOOL TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Uvarova K. V., Ivanova T. V., Scheneva V. B.

Oles Honchar Dnipropetrovsk National University

SOCIAL ENTERPRISES AS A TOOL TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

People with disabilities are among all segments of the population of any society. Law of Ukraine "On the basis of social protection of disabled people in Ukraine", says a "disabled person is a person with persistent disorder of body functions that with the interaction with the environment can lead to restriction of their life, so that the state is obliged to create conditions for the realization of its rights as other citizens and ensure social protection". Now we can talk about the global nature of disability problem – around the world options are limited for about every tenth man (650 million people), of which nearly 470 million people of working age. For Ukraine, the problem of social protection of the disabled is particularly important: if in the early 90-ies of the last century, the total number of disabled people in Ukraine was about 3% of the total population, or 1.5 million people, in 2008 their number was equal to 2.65 million people that is 5.3% of the total population, according to their number increased by about 1.6 times. The Constitution of Ukraine, says that actions of the state concerning disabilities are not only in money equivalent but also special housing planning, construction of public transport porches, provision of technical and other means of rehabilitation, assistance in getting education, professional skills, employment, health and cultural services.

As you know, many of the disabled are poorly financially provided. The small size of social assistance from the state and the special needs of such people cannot maintain the standard of living. Ukrainian society has little changed stereotypes in relation to disabled people – the idea of equal rights and equal opportunity for the disabled is not yet universal.

One should talk about the problem of employment of the disabled. Practice shows that the involvement of people with disabilities in to the work is important for them and for the country as it is rising living standards of disabled people, increasing their ability to pay and the ability to self-realization. Many countries have created an environment that disabled workers are on average half the people of the total number of people with disabilities. So in the USA there are 29% of the people who have health problems in the UK – 40% Italy – 55%, Sweden – 60%, China – 80%. In Ukraine, disabled workers are about 20%, despite the fact that the number of disabled people of working age is 1.5 million people, among them works almost 443 thousand work.

In Ukraine, as in most European countries, there is a concept of quotas by the state a percentage of jobs at the workplace. According to Article 19 of the Law of Ukraine "On the basis of social protection of disabled people in Ukraine," all enterprises, institutions and organizations with a workforce of 8 or more persons established standards to create a 4% jobs for the disabled. Comparing with in Italy and Spain – 2%, in Germany – 5%, France – 6%. Such a quota of Ukraine shall be performed by all entities regardless of ownership, but only 55% of companies follow the established indicator as it is more beneficial for them to pay a fine than to provide jobs for the disabled. However, only a small portion of funds from penalties goes to creating jobs for the disabled.

According to the Tax Code of Ukraine, Article 154.1. "Exempt from taxation profits of enterprises and organizations established by public organizations of disabled people is their total property ... where during the previous reporting (tax) period, the number of disabled people who have main place of work there is at least 50 percent of the average number of staff provided that the wage fund for such disabled workers is not less than 25 per cent of total cost of labor during the reporting period”. So, entrepreneurs quite benefit to their company hiring disabled employers, but should take the high costs into account as well. This is connected with the need of creating special working conditions for employees, offering them a flexible and lightweight schedule. So the establishment of social enterprises is important. Social enterprises are created and developed for creating the workplace, for people for whom work in the open labor market is impossible because of their specific limitations at the moment. Social enterprises are also used in preparing people with disabilities to further employment in the open labor market. Can be mentioned the following organizations:

Community Options Inc.(the USA) has a social enterprise in eight states (printing, flower shops, etc.). Employees of the company are more than 2 thousand employees, of which about 1.5 million people with disabilities. Usually, these are people with very severe disabilities – with different intellectual capacity constraints plan: autism, traumatic brain injuries and other serious neurological disorders. Created social enterprises through proper administration are very successful in terms of business. However the company also gets strong support from the state governments.

«Beacon Group» (the USA), despite being a non-profit organization, the extent of office and production areas resembles a large business corporation. It specializes in employment of people with mental disabilities and mental illnesses. To do this, employees with similar disabilities receive practical experience in belonging to «Beacon Group» manufacturing simple parts for "Airbus" and recycling waste and are further employed in other organizations in the open labor market. «Beacon Group» has stable financing through its commercial activities, and Arizona authorities’ support.

There are two possible ways of creating social enterprises:

1) Initiative of people with disabilities or their public association;

2) Initiative businesses (such can be both the as individual managers, and already formed and successful businesses).

Both models are actively used abroad, even with some bias towards the latter. Despite the fact that social enterprises do business, they are actively using government subsidies and attract private funds for their activities. The state in different countries has different support for social enterprises: from government grants to tax benefits and compensation of wage employees. It is important that the existence of such social enterprises is impossible without additional state and public support. The reason for this is that to achieve full economic efficiency and independence, using the work of such employees is almost impossible. The state should be aware that social enterprises it needs it and what social challenges they will face.

In my opinion, when using potential of social enterprises properly, they can be an important and effective tool for solving problems of employment of people with disabilities in Ukraine. This requires taking the following steps:

1) Determine the part of disabled people who can work.

2) The state must recognize what social enterprises it need and which tasks they will perform.

3) Review the legal base on the rights of persons with disabilities, conduct fiscal reforms that will apply not only to income tax, but also to VAT and special taxes related to the enterprise.

4) Make decisions about financing social enterprises.

5) Conduct programs that provide training and holding professional development of people with disabilities in specially created jobs – this will allow them to get competitive skills.