Example employment dissertation topic 3:

Discriminating against the disabled or levelling the playing field?

The closure of REMPLOY factories was seen by many involved in the field of disability employment working and rights as an attack on the disabled. However, others argued that with each employee subsidised by the state, REMPLOY was a policy luxury that could no longer be afforded and that far from equalising the labour market, tipped the scales in favour of the disabled. Noting the statutory provisions presently in place to ensure that new recruits cannot be discriminated on the basis of disability, this dissertation undertakes primary research with former REMPLOY employees as well as able bodied unemployed persons previously employed in similar lines of work. This is a dissertation that, accordingly, addresses not only employment and legislation issues but also changing societal views of disability within an increasingly competitive job market.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Berthoud, R. (2009). Patterns of non-employment, and of disadvantage, in a recession. Colchester: Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex.
• Berthoud, R. (2011). Trends in the employment of disabled people in Britain (No. 2011-03). Colchester: Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex.
• Foster, D. and Fosh, P. (2009). ‘Negotiating ‘difference’: Representing disabled employees in the British workplace’. British Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 48(3), pp. 560-582.