During the 2001-8 period, the employment rate of people with a disability remained
remarkably low in most western economies, hardly responding to better macroeconomic
conditions and favourable anti-discrimination legislation and interventions. Continuing health
and productivity improvements in the general population are leaving people with disabilities
behind, unable to play their role and have their share in the increasing productive capacity of
the economy. This paper combines dynamic panel econometric estimation with longitudinal
data from Australia to show that vocational education has a considerable and long lasting
positive effect on the employment participation and productivity of people with disabilities.