Employment is an important way for the disabled people to improve their lives, participate in society and realize their life value. There are more than 85 million disabled people of all kinds in China, and the number of disabled people of working age has reached more than 30 million. In the era of targeted poverty alleviation and targeted poverty alleviation, it is of more significance for the disabled people to achieve poverty alleviation through employment to win the battle against poverty. At present, both the employment rate of the disabled and the quality of employment have much room for improvement. In order to further promote the in-depth research on employment of the disabled, improve the employment opportunities of the disabled, improve the employment quality of the disabled, and protect the employment rights and interests of the disabled, the China Society for the Development of Undertakings for the Disabled has decided to establish a "professional employment committee for the disabled".

On Dec 9, 2018, the inaugural meeting of the employment committee of the disabled under the background of targeted poverty alleviation was held at the Beijing Normal University. The meeting was hosted by the Employment of Professional Committee, the School of Economics and Business Administration of the Beijing Normal University, the Center for Labor Market Studies of the BNU, Cheng Kai, vice chairman of the China Disabled Persons' Federation and vice director of China's Development Research Association, and other leaderships from different departments, institutions and universities attended the meeting. The meeting was presided over by professor Yang Lixiong of School of Labor and Personnel of the Renmin University of China and professor Zhang Qi of Capital University of Economics and Business.

Cheng Kai, vice chairman of the China Disabled Persons' Federation and vice director of China's Development Research Association delivered a speech at the meeting

In his speech, Cheng reviewed the great achievements made by China's undertakings for the disabled in the past 40 years of reform and opening up, the fundamental changes in the survival and development of the majority of the disabled, and the great changes in the society's concept of disability from "maimed" to "disabled" to "physical disabilities". He recalled the extraordinary course of the undertakings of the disabled since the founding of the China Disabled Persons' Federation 30 years ago and shared the important progress made by the theory and practice research. He described the reform and innovation of the cause of disabled people under the leadership of the Communist Party, the support of the state and the joint efforts of disabled people, disabled workers, experts and scholars from all walks of life. He believes that, we should adhere to the development path of the cause of disabled people based on labor and welfare, which has a more profound meaning in today's world: promoting the social integration and all-round development of disabled people on the premise of guaranteeing their basic living and employment rights in accordance with the law. Finally, Cheng hopes that the newly established professional committee for employment of the disabled will solve the difficulties for the disabled and make contributions to social civilization with the spirit of reform and innovation, the feelings of humanitarian responsibility and the unassuming style of study.

Yin Jiankun, deputy director of the Department of Employment Promotion of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security made a speech on the meeting

In his speech, Yin Jiankun said that from the perspective of the government, it is up to the market to solve the problem of employment. On the other hand, the government also implements fair protection for the vulnerable groups in the competition. Disabled people are the most vulnerable group in the employment competition in the whole market, and there are some groups that need special help. The government has introduced some policies and measures to help disabled people find jobs. Over the years, the employment of the disabled has made remarkable achievements, but we must see that there is a big gap in terms of the new requirements and new goals compared with the employment needs of the disabled. The employment of people with disabilities faces many difficulties and problems. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has called for higher quality employment. The establishment of the professional committee on employment for the whole society to build an important window and platform to meet the needs of the disabled and help them to understand society.

At the inaugural ceremony

Lai Desheng, vice president of the China Disability Research Society introduced the orientation and planning of the development of the committee. He believes that the professional committee will be committed to promoting the employment of disabled people and related research in China. Therefore, in the future, the committee will focus on the following objectives: to produce high-level research results to provide factual and theoretical foundation for policy makers; to build a database, establish and develop a database of employment for the disabled in cooperation with the China Disabled Persons' Federation, and provide data support for relevant research and policy consultation; to set up a platform to promote domestic and international exchanges of research on employment of the disabled; to build teams so as to absorb and cultivate a group of research talents on employment of the disabled, strengthen the research force, integrate the research on employment of the disabled into the mainstream of the research on employment, and constantly expand the influence of the research on employment of the disabled; to improve social counseling, providing consulting services for organizations, institutions, enterprises and institutions related to employment of the disabled. He pointed out that the professional employment committee for the disabled is an academic community with a sense of mission and responsibility, and it should take it as its due responsibility to promote the employment and development of the disabled and enhance the level of theoretical research on the employment of the disabled. Exchanges and cooperation with other professional committees should be strengthened to support each other.

Lai Desheng, vice president of the China Disability Research Society introduced the orientation and planning of the development of the committee

Finally, the participating experts discussed the employment of the disabled in the context of targeted poverty alleviation. Yang Lixiong, professor of the Renmin University of China, explained the development trend of the employment of the disabled from the perspective of the change of the disability population structure, and believed that the decline of the total number of employment of the disabled in cities and towns lies in the great change of labor supply, that is, the great change of the age structure of the disabled labor force. Huang Zhen, a professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics, believes that disabled people are human resources with special comparative advantages, that technology can compensate for the functions that disabled people lack, and that new technology can empower disabled people's labor force and new types of work need to be further matched. Liao Juan, associate professor of the Capital Normal University, reviewed the employment research on the disabled since the reform and opening up in China, and pointed out that the future research should not only focus on the local but also on the world, emphasizing both qualitative research and quantitative research, paying attention to the construction of database and case database, and combining theory with practice. According to the survey conducted by Dr. Wang Qi, lecturer of the Beijing Union University, the poverty rate of blind people in China is 6.9%. Efforts should be made in improving the quality of employment, Internet+ education and policy formulation to achieve high-quality poverty alleviation by 2020.