When job hunting, say that you hold a disability certificate — hiring you can offset a real cost for the employer

Employers must hire persons with disabilities at no less than 1.5% of headcount; provinces set the exact share. Below the share, they pay an employment-security levy on the shortfall headcount, at the unit’s prior-year average wage per person. Through the end of 2027 that levy is cut to 50% or 90%; firms with 30 or fewer people are exempt. So hiring you saves real money — make the certificate clear at the interview.

Cost

No money. One extra sentence at the interview. The hard part is saying it.

Benefit

Article 8 of the Regulations on Employment of Persons with Disabilities (残疾人就业条例): “The share of persons with disabilities an employing unit arranges for employment shall be no lower than 1.5% of its on-payroll headcount. The exact share is set by the people’s government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality in light of local conditions.” Article 9: units that fall short of the provincial share shall pay the disabled-persons employment-security levy. Article 8 of the Measures for Collection and Use of the Disabled-Persons Employment-Security Levy (残疾人就业保障金征收使用管理办法) gives the formula: “Annual levy = (prior-year on-payroll headcount × provincial mandated employment share − prior-year actual number of persons with disabilities employed) × prior-year average annual wage of the unit’s on-payroll staff.” Article 16: for three years from industrial and commercial registration, small and micro enterprises with 20 or fewer on-payroll staff (including 20) that have not reached the mandated share are exempt from the levy. Article 7: a person with a disability counts toward the unit’s arranged employment number only if hired as staff on the establishment, or given a labour contract of 1 year or more while of working age, paid no less than the local minimum wage, and with social insurance paid in full. Arranging employment of 1 person holding a level-1 or level-2 disability certificate counts as arranging 2. Ministry of Finance Announcement No. 8 of 2023 further provides that from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2027, units that reach 1% but not the provincial share pay 50% of the amount due; units under 1% pay 90%; and “enterprises with 30 or fewer on-payroll staff (inclusive) continue to be exempt from the disabled-persons employment-security levy.” Article 36 of the Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities (残疾人保障法) states that the state grants tax preferences by law to employing units that meet or exceed the mandated share or that concentrate employment of persons with disabilities (nationwide; Regulations on Employment of Persons with Disabilities in force from 1 May 2007)

Notes

Enterprises with 30 or fewer on-payroll staff are exempt from the levy through the end of 2027, so this money argument does not apply to them — do not count on it. Levy relief has been adjusted for years; after 2027, go by whatever Ministry of Finance announcement is then in force. Also, quota employment requires real jobs: a contract of 1 year or more, pay at or above the minimum wage, and full social insurance, before the person counts. Employment-difficulty recognition and social-insurance subsidies are in Section 7, item 12 (people with employment difficulty). Vocational-training subsidies are in Section 7, item 13 (vocational-training subsidies). The beneficiary is you.

Sources · 4

1. 国务院 (2007). 残疾人就业条例（第八条、第九条）. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2008-03/28/content_6…
2. 财政部、国家税务总局、中国残联 (2015). 残疾人就业保障金征收使用管理办法（财税〔2015〕72 号，第六条、第七条、第八条、第十六条）. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2015-09/15/content_5…
3. 财政部 (2023). 关于延续实施残疾人就业保障金优惠政策的公告（财政部公告 2023 年第 8 号）. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2023-03/28/content_5…
4. 中华人民共和国残疾人保障法（第三十六条）. flk.npc.gov.cn/detail?id=ff8080816f135f46016f…