Massimiliano Agovino

ABSTRACT Law 68/1999, whose aim is the regulation and promotion of the employment of persons with disabilities, delegates to regions the management of the labour market. However, its successful implementation does not depend exclusively on the regions’ actions but also on the environmental context. We propose a two-step analysis focusing on Italian regions for the year 2005. In the first phase, we use multidimensional scaling in order to identify different socio-economic contexts. Then, cluster analysis is used in order to test for the presence of subsets among Italian regions. The results show that an environment featuring a large number of profit-making firms, and providing support services for disabled people, provides most opportunities for the employment of disabled people. On the contrary, large public sector organizations and a rather closed social environment do not seem to have a positive impact on the employment process. KEYWORDS: Disabled People, Public Policy, Non-Labour Market Discrimination, Multidimensional Scaling, Cluster Analysis. JEL Classification: J14, J48, C14, C19, C38.