NEW YORK: The exclusion of persons with disabilities from jobs resulted in an estimated loss of 3 to 7 per cent of gross domestic product, said a United Nations pilot study published on July 16.

“It has become even more imperative to pursue development strategies that include social, economic and environmental policies to empower excluded social groups,” said the study, led by the International Labor Organisation (ILO).

The study covered 10 low- and middle-income developing countries.

“These include persons with disabilities, who are disproportionately located at the margins of the formal labour market and are denied equality of opportunity when it comes to essential public goods and services, such as education, health and accessible and user-friendly public infrastructure,” said the report released before a convention on the rights of disabled people.

Around 10 per cent of the world’s population, or 650 million people, live with a disability. About 80 per cent of them are of working age and face physical, social, economic and cultural challenge to their access to education, skills development and employment, according to the UN.

State parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted on December 13, 2006, will meet at the UN headquarters in New York on July 17-19 to focus on improving living standards and employment for persons with disabilities.

(Xinhua)