(Lima, June 15th, 2016) The minister of Labour and Employment Promotion, Daniel Maurate Romero, asked employers to hire more people of short stature, not only to meet the overall employment rate of 3% for people with disabilities set by the government, but because they are equal productive as any other worker.

“There is a false correlation between short people and the capacity to make any activity, in the field of employment. We must overcome this”, Maurate said in the opening of a discussion about the contributions of this vulnerable group in the work.

In the last year ten short people have been inserted in the formal labor market, thanks to the service of Labour exchange of the Employment Center of Lima Metropolitana, the action plan for improving employability and employment and training courses of Jóvenes Productivos Program.

In Peru there is not enough stadistic data about short people, because this information was not included in the National Survey about Discapacity 2012 elaborated by INEI.

Nevertheless, the MTPE has registered 2,461 disabled people at La Libertad, Piura, Arequipa, Lambayeque, San Martín, Cusco, Ica and Junín. Sixteen of them are short people.  

During the roundtable discussion, representatives of different companies explained the successful experiences that they had inserting short people as part of their staff.

“More and more people in this physical condition get a job through our services; however, the MTPE expected to continue to benefit employment opportunities and free training by our social programs”,  concluded  minister Maurate.