Information technologies, policy leverage, and the entrepreneurial spirit: building cross-sectoral collaboration for disability employment in China

ABSTRACT

This article examines the role of information technologies in helping small companies hire disabled people. It draws upon the data from a single-case study of a car-washing start-up business in China. I argue that technologies have allowed even micro-sized companies and entrepreneurs in NGOs to become more involved in disability employment. This calls for greater policy support specific to the needs of small companies and more respect for the autonomy of those NGOs. Information technology should also be included in disability employment support services so that the disabled are more likely to take advantages of the new technology economy.

KEYWORDS:

• Disability employment
• China
• the employer’s perspective
• information technologies
• cross-sectoral collaboration

View correction statement:

Correction

Acknowledgments

I am here to express my great appreciation to all the interviewees for sincerely sharing their views and experiences with me during the fieldwork. Any errors are my own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. This includes welfare enterprises that were set up nationally.

2. It should be no less than 1.5% of the total number of employees.

3. The state provides position-based subsidies for each employer, which means the more disabled persons it hires, the more subsidies it receives. The standard varies across cities. For example, a company in Beijing receives a 3,000–5,000 Renminbi (RMB) subsidy each year for each position; in Jiangsu province, the annual subsidy for each position is equal to twice the local minimum wage for the previous year, but it only lasts three years.

4. DPESF’s Chinese name is can ji ren bao zhang jin (can bao jin for short). Companies that do not comply with the quota scheme must pay a certain amount in to the DPESF which in turn supports vocational training, job-placement and other employment support services.

5. CDPF is a national organisation for individuals with disabilities in China. It aims to protect the legitimate rights of the disabled by providing services of different kinds. It is also commissioned by the Chinese government to supervise affairs related to people with disabilities. Thus, it is often regarded as a governmental organ.

6. Annual statistics report of Chinese disabilities and development (2016), issued by CDPF, http://www.cdpf.org.cn/zcwj/zxwj/201703/t20170331_587445.shtml.

7. A certificate of disability identifies a Chinese citizen as a disabled person and works something like an identity card. In the quota scheme, companies must show certificates of disability to the government in order to prove that they hired a sufficient number of disabled workers. If a company doesn’t have an enough certificates, then it must pay the fee. Some companies don’t want to pay the fee but they don’t want to hire disabled workers either. To avoid both, some secretly ‘buy’ certificates from resident committees or even disabled people; there are probably many other ways to avoid the quota and the fee. In the end, this means the government’s coercive scheme has not produced the desired effect.

8. Share-car users are expected to clean up the cars after using them. Sometimes, car-sharing companies have the cars washed. Thus, car-wash services have grown rapidly.

9. Compared with other types of disabilities, people with an intellectual disability often encounter more difficulties in seeking jobs. Only 2% of this disabled group gets employed in the mainstream labour market in China, and the majority of them work in segregated environments.

10. MKXC is a start-up business that provides flexible car wash services to shared cars in Guangzhou.

11. Huiling is a Guangzhou-based special education school with branches spread nation-wide. They mainly provide employment support services to people with disabilities who are 19 to 45 years old. They also provide old-age support to elderly people with disabilities.

12. Inno is a Pearl River Delta-based NGO. It mainly provides employment support services to workers in the large export-oriented factories under contract with global enterprises and seeks to ensure Chinese suppliers comply with local labour laws.

13. There are about 2,000 sharing-cars in Guangzhou, and each car is estimated to be washed 7.5 times every month. However, most are only washed 0.5 times per month on average due to the shortage of car-wash workers and the incompatibility of car-washing services.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Xiaohui Zhong

Xiaohui Zhong is senior researcher/PhD at the School of Government in Sun Yat-sen University of P. R. China. Her main research areas include family changes and family policies in China and in other East Asian societies. Recently, she has extended her study to examine the role of technologies and its impacts on social policy.