The South Korean government has announced plans to raise the mandatory employment quota for people with disabilities to up to 4 percent, aiming to expand job opportunities and address declining employment rates among disabled workers.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that private companies will be required to fill 3.5 percent of their workforce with employees with disabilities by 2029, and the quota for public institutions will rise to 4 percent. 

The ministry estimates that every 0.2 percentage point increase in the quota will create about 15,000 new jobs in the private sector and 4,000 in the public sector, implying that the new policy may add roughly 34,000 jobs for people with disabilities by 2029.

Officials highlighted that the move comes amid a worrying trend, where the employment rate among people with disabilities has declined in the past three consecutive years, from 50.3 percent in 2022 to 48.4 percent in 2024, even as the overall national employment rate has continued to rise.

However, the plan revives a long-running debate over whether quotas advance inclusion. 

“Too often, people’s capabilities are judged based on perceived disabilities,” James Dillhoff, AP Economics teacher, said. “I am not sure hiring quotas will fully solve this issue because companies might treat them as a requirement rather than a genuine opportunity to show what these individuals are capable of.”