Disabled people employed in the private sector made up only 1.46 percent of the national workforce last year, falling short of the minimum rate of 1.8 percent set by the government, according to a white paper released Tuesday.
The number of disabled people employed by private totaled 257,939 as of last June, up by 10,846 from a year earlier, the report says.
The percentage of disabled people working in the private sector dropped by 0.02 point from 2003 partly because of a change in the formula used to calculate the figure in the construction and medical industries, the report says.
The public sector has done better.
The white paper says the employment rate of disabled people in the public sector came to 2.15 percent at the central government, 2.28 percent at prefectural governments and 2.20 percent at municipal governments, all topping the minimum of 2.10 percent.
A 2003 survey by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry shows a considerable wage disparity between the public and private sectors. The average wage of a disabled worker at a vocational aid center was 22,000 yen a month in 2003, while the average amount paid by a private company came to 250,000 yen.