|
In the present society, as the labor activities of disabled persons are recognized as an important measure to meet their self-realization, social integration, and the improvement of the quality of life, the maximization of the productive capacity as well as the security of basic life for disabled persons stands out as an important policy objective. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to compare the American and Korean disability pension systems in three dimensions: eligibility, benefit, and vocational rehabilitation services, and to introduce the feasible schemes of the work incentive to Koreans with disabilities, in order to improve the working abilities of disabled persons and promote their return to work. According to the American reference, the following conclusions can be drawn: First, while disabled persons with working abilities should be kept out of their being eligible for disability pension not to lower their will to work in advance, disabled persons who have difficulties to work in their actual conditions although their disabilities are not severe should be included in beneficiaries. To accomplish this, the disability pension system in Korea should change the `disability` concept of beneficiaries into that of a `work disability`, and the assessment standards of vocational ability in eligibility requirements should be introduced. Second, after selecting eligible people, various work incentives should be introduced so as not to lose the disabled persons` willingness to work. The plans should be introduced so that, if labor income increases more than eligibility requirements, qualification standards are expanded until the employment becomes stable; and, if withdrawn from qualification, disabled persons will have access to obtain qualification at any time. Third, the paradigm of the disability pension should be converted from merely playing a role to supplement the income of disabled persons, to providing vocational rehabilitation services as well as securing income in order to improve their working abilities and promote their participation in working activities. For providing vocational rehabilitation services, a formal referral system should be constructed in cooperation with various vocational rehabilitation agencies, and a work incentive for vocational rehabilitation agenaes should be introduced to connect disabled persons who have increased their working abilities with their employment.
|