More help on the way for job-hunting handicapped people

THE HAGUE – Dutch authorities are embarking on a plan to help 100.000 people with serious health problems and handicaps find a job. So far, efforts to convince employers to hire people with such challenges have not been all that successful. A commission has recommended that more could be done to combat the social stigma among potential employers. There should be better monitoring to get and keep people in the labour force as well as possibly offer government assistance to employers when hiring people with a handicap. Included in these categories are workers who previously received a disability pension but who through the controversial re-evaluation are losing such benefits.