A volunteer translates information into sign language for a deaf applicant during a job fair yesterday in Beijing. The fair connected people with disabilities with job opportunities in the city. [Mirror Evening News]
Special government-backed job fairs for people with disabilities have continued since Sunday in the capital but the battle to find quality jobs still has a long way to go, say NGO representatives.
A job fair in Beijing's Talent Building yesterday offered 547 jobs for people with disabilities, but with salaries averaging around 1,000 yuan a month, many job-seekers were unsatisfied.
Feng Lina, a hearing-impaired college graduate from Beijing Union University, said she would have been satisfied with a job that paid between 1,500 and 2,000 yuan a month.
"I have been unable to find a job for a year because the jobs I have been offered only paid a very low salary," Feng said through sign language. She graduated in January 2009 after spending about 10,000 yuan on her three years of study.
Cui Jingyu, another woman with a hearing impairment, said she worked at a paper goods company for 800 yuan a month.
"I am not satisfied with the salary but I do not have other choices because many companies offer the same sort of salary as mine," Cui said.
Hou Shufen, deputy director general of the Beijing disabled persons federation, said people with disabilities often end up with poorly paid work - if they can find jobs at all.
"Lack of skills is the main reason for the low salaries," Hou said.
She explained that many people with disabilities can only find menial work, such as employment as cleaners and porters.
The salaries for such work are poor for able-bodied workers as well, she added.
Hou said part of the problem stems from the fact that many people with disabilities have had barriers to better educations in the past.
She said the federation offers free training so people with disabilities can make themselves more employable.
Xie Yan, a spokesman from the Beijing One Plus One Cultural Exchange Center in Beijing, which works to help people with disabilities, said the government should do more to help.
"Training is offered to disabled people but training on its own cannot connect them with jobs," Xie said.
Training should be geared toward preparing people to do work that is in demand, he added.
