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Article

Current Status and Issues of the Employment of Persons with Disabilities in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Rural Areas of Japan: A Survey from Business Owners’ Perspectives

by
Kazuaki Maebara
1,*,
Kanae Yamaguchi
2,
Kazuma Ikeda
3 and
Hiroki Takahashi
3
1
Graduate School of Education, Akita University, Akita 010-0904, Japan
2
Department of Education and Human Studies, Akita University, Akita 010-0904, Japan
3
Special Support School, Akita University, Akita 010-0904, Japan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Disabilities 2025, 5(3), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/disabilities5030062
Submission received: 16 April 2025 / Revised: 3 July 2025 / Accepted: 7 July 2025 / Published: 9 July 2025
Versions Notes

Abstract

This study examines the employment of persons with disabilities in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural Japan. An online survey of 40 SME owners was conducted to assess their understanding, experiences, and challenges in employing persons with disabilities. The results indicate that many SMEs lack awareness of employment systems, but those with prior contact experience demonstrate greater understanding. Key challenges include difficulties in job creation, workplace acceptance, and inadequate environments. To address these issues, it is essential to enhance information on job creation, share successful cases, and establish mentoring systems for knowledge exchange between SMEs. These findings provide insights for policy development and practical strategies to promote the employment of persons with disabilities in SMEs.

1. Introduction

A substantial body of research, both domestic and international, has established that employers’ perceptions and attitudes are crucial factors in promoting the employment of persons with disabilities [1,2,3,4,5]. This research indicates that while positive attitudes are linked to hiring decisions, a lack of knowledge and prejudice, such as stigmatizing attitudes, act as significant barriers. Building on these existing discussions, this study aims to contribute to the development of more effective support measures by clarifying the specific challenges perceived by managers of rural small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Japan.
Working is extremely significant for persons with disabilities, who often encounter barriers [6]. Prior research has reported that, for such persons, working not only leads to the pursuit of a personalized lifestyle [7], but also contributes to identity formation and career development [8,9], as well as allowing them to regain connection within social relationships [10]. Additionally, supporting work challenges and allowing persons with disabilities to experience success can positively promote their self-efficacy and self-concept [11]. The work of persons with disabilities contributes to the maintenance of life and the development of a person’s identity, which is necessary for a life including social participation [12]. Those involved in work supporting the employment of persons with disabilities need to be strongly aware of the significance of their social participation.
In supporting the social participation of persons with disabilities, which is of great significance, the promotion of their employment in a competitive environment has become one of the most important labor policies not only in Japan but also worldwide. Japan has adopted the quota system to promote the employment of persons with disabilities, which is imposed on enterprises, based on the “Act on Employment Promotion, etc., of Persons with Disabilities” in Japan. Based on the quota system, the legally mandated employment rate for persons with disabilities as of April 2024 was obligated to be 2.5% for enterprises and 2.8% for national and local governments. In simple terms, enterprises with 40 or more employees must employ at least one person with disabilities. As the legally mandated rate for them is stipulated to rise, the employment rate will be 2.7% for enterprises and 3.0% for national and local governments in July 2026 [13]. Notably, the law stipulates not only employment quotas but also a payment system, in which a levy is collected from enterprises that do not meet the legally mandated employment rate, to promote their employment. The paid money is used as subsidies for enterprises that have achieved the legally mandated employment rate. Additionally, vocational rehabilitation institutions have been established to provide employment support services for persons with disabilities, such as regional vocational centers for persons with disabilities or employment and living support centers for persons with disabilities.
The actual employment rate in Japanese enterprises, a metric reflecting the real employment status of persons with disabilities in Japanese enterprises, has been increasing annually. According to the statistical report by the MHLW [14], the actual employment rate of persons with disabilities increased by 0.08% from the previous year to 2.41% in June 2024. The actual employment rate remained at a record high in 2024. Thus, the employment rate is getting much closer to the legally mandated figure stipulated by the law. This increase appears to be the result of a growing understanding of persons with disabilities in Japan. In reality, however, the percentage of enterprises that have achieved the legally mandated employment rate imposed on enterprises is 46.0%, meaning that over half (54.0%) of enterprises have not yet met the requirement. This suggests that an increase in their employment in some enterprises may have affected the statistics of the rising employment rate. Further improvement in the quality of efforts toward the social participation of persons with disabilities will be necessary.
The current status of the employment of persons with disabilities in Japan indicates a noticeable disparity by company size. A statistical report by the MHLW [14] revealed that the employment rate in large enterprises with 1000 or more employees was 2.64, with an achievement rate of 54.7%. Contrastingly, when the employment rate and the achievement rate of their employment were examined by company size, the employment and achievement rates were 2.48% and 44.3%, respectively, for enterprises with 500–1000 employees (medium-sized enterprises); the corresponding figures were 2.29% and 41.1% for enterprises with 300–500 employees, 2.19% and 49.1% for enterprises with 100–300 employees, and 1.96% and 44.3% for enterprises with 40–100 employees (small-sized enterprises). These findings revealed that a large discrepancy exists in the employment and achievement rates between large- and small-sized enterprises. In Japan, SMEs account for 99.7% of all enterprises [15]. Considering the future promotion of social participation of persons with disabilities, promoting their employment is considered necessary in SMEs.
Reasons for the difficulty in employing persons with disabilities in SMEs include their greater susceptibility to economic circumstances compared to large enterprises, fewer options for job roles and work locations, and the scarcity of financial and human resources for employee education and training [16]. Furthermore, international research highlights that a lack of specialized knowledge regarding disability employment and misconceptions about providing reasonable accommodations act as significant barriers for SMEs [17,18,19]. These challenges are considered to be present in SMEs in rural Japan as well, where difficulties surrounding reasonable accommodation have also been reported. Previous studies have reported that the following issues are responsible for employment stagnation in enterprises: low job diversity, which makes it difficult for persons with disabilities to find jobs suitable for their ability and appropriate [20,21,22,23,24]; lack of both barrier-free accessibility and reasonable accommodations [25,26]; insufficient understanding of disability-related issues among employers; and insufficient establishment of support systems within the workplace [27,28,29,30].
In the context of the present situation in Japan, this study aimed to analyze the current status and issues of the employment of persons with disabilities in Japanese SMEs from the business owners’ perspectives and to obtain political and practical suggestions for promoting their employment. This is because most previous studies have focused on the employment of persons with disabilities in large enterprises, with few having reported the actual situation in SMEs [16,31,32]. In particular, research focused specifically on SMEs in rural areas—which often have more vulnerable economic foundations and fewer social resources compared to their metropolitan counterparts—remains scarce. This study aims to address this research gap. By focusing on SMEs in rural areas, this study will contribute to identifying differences from urban areas and issues specific to rural areas. Several cases in which persons with disabilities are successfully employed in enterprises have been reported [33,34]. However, there are only a few reports regarding specific barriers faced by enterprises that do not employ persons with disabilities [24,35].
In rural areas, there are more diverse barriers than in urban areas, in addition to the restricted social participation of persons with disabilities. Specifically, there are many problems related to employment, including a strong prejudice against persons with disabilities, the existence of various issues related to welfare not only for persons with disabilities but also for the aging population, and an employment gap and lower salaries compared to the national level. In particular, for the employment of persons with disabilities, such rural areas lack sufficient public services, as represented by public-common institutions, in addition to lacking enough social resources to support their employment, and difficulty in obtaining information on best practices for their employment, which are crucial in promoting the understanding of persons with disabilities. Thus, rural areas face various issues that may hinder promotion of the employment of persons with disabilities, as well as sufficient personnel resources for supporting their employment [36]. Therefore, focusing on SMEs in rural areas could contribute to understanding the reasons and opportunities for the employment of persons with disabilities [28,37] in enterprises. This could lead to obtaining data needed for future promotion of the employment of persons with disabilities in Japan.
In Japan, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute 99.7% of all enterprises and form the backbone of the nation’s economy [38,39]. Their role is particularly vital in rural areas, where they are integral to sustaining the local economy, creating employment, and supporting the community and its culture. As many of these regions face challenges such as population decline and aging, the need for sustainable economic activity by locally rooted SMEs has become increasingly critical. Against this backdrop, promoting the employment of persons with disabilities in rural SMEs holds a significance that extends beyond merely fulfilling legal quotas; it is crucial for the revitalization and social inclusion of the entire community. By focusing on these rural SMEs, this study aims to contribute to the formulation of employment promotion policies tailored to local realities.
The purpose of this study was to identify unique issues for their employment in local SMEs and to propose local-specific employment promotion measures. The research questions for this study are as follows.
RQ1: What perceptions, attitudes, and knowledge do business owners of Japanese local SMEs have regarding the employment of persons with disabilities?
RQ2: What specific challenges do they perceive in the process of employing persons with disabilities, including legal, operational, and interpersonal factors?

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Participants

We requested survey cooperation from the business owners of 380 member firms belonging to a prefectural SME association in Prefecture A, located in Japan’s northeast region. This area is known for its challenging socioeconomic conditions—including a significant population decline and aging and one of the nation’s lowest minimum wage levels—which are characteristic of many rural parts of Japan. We selected this region because we believe that understanding the realities of SMEs under these specific circumstances is crucial for gaining insights applicable to other rural areas facing similar challenges. An initial request was made via email through the association’s secretariat, followed by a reminder to encourage responses. Ultimately, valid responses were received from 40 business owners. The survey sample included a diverse range of industries, including manufacturing, construction, and healthcare/welfare, reflecting regional characteristics. For the analysis, participants were divided into groups based on their experience with employing and interacting with persons with disabilities. In this study, “contact experience” was operationally defined as any form of interaction with persons with disabilities, including as family members, friends, or colleagues, or through experiences such as hosting interns at the workplace. The sample size of this study is limited to 40 SMEs, and as the survey was confined to a single region in Northeast Japan, the findings cannot be generalized to all SMEs nationwide. However, as previously described, the surveyed region faces typical challenges common to rural areas in Japan, such as an aging and declining population and a low economic standard. Therefore, the data are considered significant as they provide initial insights into the employment trends of persons with disabilities within SMEs operating under these conditions. It is expected that these findings will serve as a valuable foundation for future large-scale surveys.

2.2. Procedure

The survey period spanned 10 December 2024 to 31 January 2025. The survey was conducted using an online platform, and business owners of member firms affiliated with the SMEs’ organization were asked to complete the survey via email from the organization’s office. Individual participants accessed and completed the online survey form through the survey request email.

2.3. Survey Items

Since no existing standardized scale was available that adequately captured the specific aims of this study—particularly concerning the legal and administrative context of disability employment in Japan—the authors developed an original questionnaire. To assess the challenges companies face, nine items were created. These items were not developed in a vacuum; they were structured around three core dimensions consistently identified in the literature on employer-related barriers to disability employment: (1) job creation and matching challenges, (2) workplace integration and acceptance, (3) environmental and systemic accommodations. The development process involved reviewing previous domestic research and administrative reports [29,40] to identify challenges relevant to the Japanese context. Dimension 1 (Items 1, 2, and 6), for instance, reflects well-documented difficulties in job creation and matching tasks to individual abilities [22,23,24]. Dimension 2 (Items 3 and 4) addresses psychosocial barriers, such as coworker attitudes and communication, which are known to be critical for workplace integration [27,28]. Dimension 3 (Items 5, 7, 8, and 9) relates to organizational factors, including the work environment and post-hire management systems, which require proactive accommodation efforts [29]. The final items were refined through discussions with experts in special needs education and vocational rehabilitation to ensure their practical relevance.
The objective of this study is to quantitatively clarify the degree to which managers of rural SMEs perceive these known challenges. Its novelty lies in capturing the realities of small-scale businesses in these data-scarce regions.
Basic Attributes:
The basic attributes were as follows: occupational classification (agriculture and forestry/fishing/mining, quarrying, gravel extraction/construction/manufacturing/electricity, gas, heat supply, water supply/information and communication/transportation, postal service/wholesale and retail/finance, insurance/real estate, goods rental/academic research, professional and technical services/accommodation, food services/lifestyle-related services, entertainment /education, learning support/medical care, welfare/multiple service business/service industry (not classified elsewhere)/public service/one to be selected from unclassifiable items)/number of employees/number of employed persons with disabilities. SMEs were required to respond to these attributes.
Understanding of the Obligation to Employ Persons with Disabilities:
Respondents were asked to indicate, on a five-point scale (1 = not familiar, 2 = not well familiar, 3 = neutral, 4 = somewhat familiar, and 5 = familiar), their understanding of the system which obliges them to employ persons with disabilities in the “Act on Employment Promotion, etc., of Persons with Disabilities,” which is the law governing the employment of persons with disabilities in Japan.
Contact Experience with Persons with Disabilities:
Respondents were asked to indicate whether or not they have any involvement with persons with disabilities (“0 = no” and “1 = yes”).
Degree of Awareness of Issues of the Employment of Persons with Disabilities:
Issues to be addressed in the employment of persons with disabilities include “finding jobs suitable for persons with disabilities,” “allocating persons with disabilities to jobs suitable for their ability,” “promoting the understanding of persons with disabilities among colleagues in the workplace,” “communicating with colleagues in the workplace,” “improving the workplace environment for employment,” “understanding of the ability of persons with disabilities at the time of employment,” “considerations for workplace retention after hiring,” “skill development and career advancement of persons with disabilities,” and “employment management after hiring persons with disabilities. Respondents were asked to answer, on a 5-point scale (1 = no issue, 2 = not much issue, 3 = undecided, 4 = somewhat issue, and 5 = issue), to what degree they perceive each of the nine items to be an issue when employing persons with disabilities, either for their own company or in general.

2.4. Data Analysis

Basic aggregation was performed for the basic attributes. To understand the obligation to employ persons with disabilities, an unpaired t-test was conducted between the groups with and without employment, and the differences in means were calculated. Similarly, an unpaired t-test was conducted between the groups with and without contact experience with persons with disabilities to obtain the differences in means.
A one-factor within-subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) was undertaken to compare differences in means among the nine items for the awareness degree of the employment of persons with disabilities. Additionally, an unpaired t-test was carried out to obtain differences in means between the groups with and without the employment of persons with disabilities and between the groups with and without contact experience with persons with disabilities. Finally, the two groups were divided into two subgroups—one with 1–2 points for the understanding of the obligation to employ persons with disabilities (the low-understanding group) and another with 3–5 points (the high-understanding group). Finally, an unpaired t-test was conducted to compare the low- and high-understanding groups to obtain differences in the means for the awareness degree. The significance level was set at 0.05 or less.

2.5. Ethical Considerations

In conducting the survey, the protection of personal information was explained on the top page of the survey form, and consent was obtained by responding to the survey. In addition, approval was obtained from the Ethics Review Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects at the Tegata District of Akita University (No. 6–50, 6 November 2024).

3. Results

3.1. Basic Attributes

Table 1 shows the basic attributes of 40 SMEs which responded to the survey.
The industry sector with the highest number of responses was “manufacturing,” followed by “construction,” “medical care and welfare,” “wholesale and retail trade,” and the “service industry.” The average number of employees was 36.4, most of whom belonged to small enterprises with fewer than 40 employees. Half of the enterprises employed zero persons with disabilities or only one person with disabilities.
A crosstabulation of the number of employed persons with disabilities for the number of employees was also conducted. In the “1–39 employees” category, which currently has no obligation to employ persons with disabilities, 17 enterprises stated that they have no employment, corresponding to 51.5% of the responding enterprises. Among enterprises with employment obligation, six enterprises with 40–99 employees stated that they have no employment, while three stated that they have employed persons with disabilities. As regards enterprises with 100 or more employees, none have employed persons with disabilities, while three have employed them.

3.2. Understanding of the Obligation to Employ Persons with Disabilities

An unpaired t-test was conducted to examine differences in the understanding of the legal obligation to employ persons with disabilities between the groups with and without employment. The mean scores of the understanding were 4.3 (SD: 0.82) and 3.1 (SD: 1.48) in the groups with and without employment, respectively. The results of the t-test showed t(38) = −3.34, p < 0.01, indicating that the group with employment had a significantly higher level of understanding of the obligation to employ persons with disabilities.

3.3. Contact Experience with Persons with Disabilities

Regarding contact experience with persons with disabilities, 17 of the 40 SMEs reported experience (42.5%). An unpaired t-test was conducted to examine the differences in the understanding level of the obligation to employ persons with disabilities between the groups with and without contact experience.
The mean scores of the group with and without contact experience were 4.1 (SD: 1.11) and 3.2 (SD: 1.47), respectively. The result of the t-test showed t(38) = −2.32, p < 0.05, indicating that enterprises with contact experience had a significantly higher level of understanding of their obligation to employ persons with disabilities. The results of the t-test showed t(38) = −2.32, p < 0.05.

3.4. Degree of Awareness of Issues for Employment of Persons with Disabilities

Table 2 shows the degree to which enterprises were aware of issues related to the employment of persons with disabilities. Scores of 3.7 or higher were obtained for all nine items, indicating that the responding enterprises were highly aware of the issues they face in these items.
A one-factor within-subjects ANOVA was conducted to compare the mean scores in the awareness degree for the nine items. The results showed a main effect of the awareness degree with F(8296) = 3.35, p < 0.01. Multiple comparisons using the Bonferroni method revealed significant differences between “Item 4: communication with colleagues in the workplace” and “Item 5: improving the work environment for employment” (p < 0.05), as well as between “Item 7: considerations for post-employment retention” and “Item 9: post-employment management of persons with disabilities” (p < 0.05).
Unpaired t-tests were conducted to compare the awareness degree for issue items between the groups with and without the employment of persons with disabilities and the groups with and without contact experience with persons with disabilities. No significant differences were identified for any of the nine items.
First, we classified the enterprises into two groups: a low-understanding group with 1–2 points for the obligation to employ persons with disabilities and a high-understanding group with 3–5 points. Subsequently, an unpaired t-test was conducted to examine the differences in the awareness degree for issue items between the low- and high-understanding groups (Table 3).
Finally, the awareness degree for issue items was significantly higher in enterprises classified as having a low-understanding level (t(38) = 3.83, p < 0.01) for “Item 2: allocating persons with disabilities in jobs suitable for their ability,” and in enterprises classified as having a low-understanding level (t(38) = 3.21, p < 0.01) for “Item 3: promoting the understanding of persons with disabilities among colleagues in the workplace.”

4. Discussion

4.1. Awareness of Employment of Persons with Disabilities in SMEs

This study sought to determine the awareness of the employment of persons with disabilities among SMEs in rural areas of Japan. The number of SMEs surveyed was only 40, thereby limiting the generalizability of the findings. However, the actual employment of persons with disabilities in Japan is largely concentrated in large enterprises, with SMEs still lagging behind [41]. Therefore, it is necessary to accumulate as much information as possible on the employment of persons with disabilities. Since the results of this study revealed one aspect of awareness of the employment of persons with disabilities in SMEs in rural areas, the obtained data may be useful for future practices to promote the employment of persons with disabilities.
In this study, 69.7% of the surveyed SMEs did not employ persons with disabilities. Such a figure may reflect that many SMEs do not employ persons with disabilities. However, even a few enterprises with 1–39 employees, which are not obligated by Japanese law to employ persons with disabilities, did employ persons with disabilities. Almost all of the other enterprises employed them in a proportion exceeding the legally mandated percentage. Previous studies have pointed out that Japanese enterprises have an employment mindset that takes into account their activity and contribution as human resources, in addition to legal compliance [42]. This is also true for SMEs [22]. In this study, the understanding level of the obligation system to employ persons with disabilities was significantly higher in the group with employment (4.3 points) than in the group without employment (3.1 points). It should be noted that the data are based on responses from a limited number of SMEs; however, the need to employ persons with disabilities seems to be becoming more widespread even among SMEs in rural areas.

4.2. Major Issues in Employing Persons with Disabilities in SMEs in Rural Areas

Interestingly, our t-tests revealed no significant differences in the awareness of these issues between groups with and without employment or contact experience with persons with disabilities. One possible explanation is that the general awareness of employment challenges is universally high among SME owners in rural areas facing labor shortages, regardless of their direct experience. Alternatively, the small sample size of this study may have lacked sufficient statistical power to detect more subtle differences between the groups. The survey results confirmed three major issues in the employment of persons with disabilities in SMEs across rural areas, two of which are discussed below.
First, SMEs have difficulties in job matching between the job provided by enterprises and the job accepted by persons with disabilities. As stated in previous studies, SMEs have less job diversity than large enterprises and have difficulty in finding jobs suitable for the ability and appropriateness of persons with disabilities [20,21,22,23,24]. The SMEs included in this study were aware of the following as issues: “finding jobs suitable for persons with disabilities” and “allocating persons with disabilities to jobs suitable for their ability.” This may be explained by the fact that SMEs tend to require their employees to perform multifunctional tasks, making it difficult for them to hire employees who specialize in a single job [43]. SMEs in rural areas often do not have a high division of labor, and one employee is often responsible for multiple tasks. This makes it difficult to carve out jobs that match the characteristics of persons with disabilities—a factor which hinders appropriate job matching.
Low understanding of the system regarding the employment of persons with disabilities makes it particularly difficult to allocate persons with disabilities to jobs suitable for their ability. The following two measures are considered necessary for future SME support. First, disseminating support procedures for job creation is necessary. When considering the employment of persons with disabilities, support is generally provided to adapt the job or to create one job by consolidating various jobs for smooth work execution, since disability characteristics make it difficult to take on various jobs [44]. It is possible that many enterprises are not fully aware of such support. Second, the sharing of best practices is necessary among enterprises. Specifically, there is a need for business owners to share information among themselves on how other enterprises are successful in employing persons with disabilities. The Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly, Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers (Japan’s national vocational rehabilitation management agency) has already operated an online database called Reference Service for Disability Employment. Additionally, the organization also disseminates the information through various other materials [29]. However, it is difficult to say that this type of material reaches all enterprises. Particularly in rural areas, where there are few support organizations and it is difficult to obtain information on the employment of persons with disabilities, it is important to share best practices on how to overcome the challenge of enterprises that hesitate to start employing persons with disabilities.
Currently, when examining and listening to the actual situation of the employment of persons with disabilities in Japan, it is often reported that, while some enterprises are positively aware of the employment of persons with disabilities, the others often have high demands for the job performance of persons with disabilities without sufficient understanding of them [45,46]. In response to these issues, support has been developed to help enterprises understand persons with disabilities and provide support to these enterprises [47]. Such support needs to be further enhanced in rural areas. Recent years have witnessed occasional efforts by local governments in rural areas to help enterprises understand persons with disabilities from the viewpoint of reasonable accommodation. However, such efforts may not reach the human resources staff of enterprises, and concrete support is needed to tackle this.
The second issue is the need to provide opportunities to interact with persons with disabilities to understand their employment. The results of this study showed that the awareness degree for issue items “promoting the understanding of persons with disabilities among colleagues in the workplace” (mean points, 3.7) and “communicating with persons with disabilities” (mean points, 3.7) was lower than that for other items. Additionally, the understanding level for the employment of persons with disabilities was higher in the group with contact experience with persons with disabilities than in the group without. This result may suggest that the measure against contact experience with persons with disabilities is easy to tackle and may also function as a trigger to promote the employment of persons with disabilities. Research has identified several concerns within enterprises that do not employ persons with disabilities. For example, one study highlighted the following issues: “workplace adaptation of persons with disabilities,” “convincing of able-bodied workers to work alongside persons with disabilities,” and “work motivation and work attitude of persons with disabilities.” The additional issue of the costs incurred by hiring persons with disabilities, especially in small-sized enterprises with fewer than 50 employees, is also reported as a concern [24]. In response to this reality, it has been pointed out that few contact opportunities with persons with disabilities prevent enterprises from having a concrete image of the employment of persons with disabilities [31], and contact experience with persons with disabilities is important [48]. Additionally, the employment of persons with disabilities also deepens understanding of them among the personnel in the workplace, thereby sustaining their employment, promoting mutual understanding between persons with disabilities and able-bodied workers, and increasing the quality of employment [26].
It has been reported that contact experience [49] and learning opportunities from familiar themes [50] are effective in promoting the understanding of persons with disabilities. In the context of their employment, contact experience through work experience of persons with disabilities and information that persons with disabilities are working in enterprises familiar to local people may be useful. Making these efforts is considered important. Previous studies have also suggested that contact experience with persons with disabilities promotes positive attitudes toward their employment [48]—a notion supported by the results of this study. Thus, an increase in contact opportunities through workplace training and internships may increase the willingness to employ persons with disabilities in SMEs in rural areas.
Based on these issues, a possible policy required in rural areas is that enterprises which have successfully employed persons with disabilities can play a role as mentors for enterprises that want to hire persons with disabilities. For this purpose, a program is considered as a concrete example, in which the information should be exchanged on a regular basis between enterprises that have employed persons with disabilities and those that are considering employing them. This may allow for transmission of enterprises’ know-how for job creation and compensation of their contact experience with persons with disabilities. In particular, community collaboration in rural areas could be useful in the inclusion of persons with disabilities and contribute to the promotion of their employment [51]. For such a strategy to be feasible in the future, it would be a shortcut to build from the bottom up based on the practice of community collaboration, rather than from the top down in terms of policy. Such a challenge can also be expected to encourage community inclusion.
This study is also limited by the variables it did not collect. We did not gather detailed data on other potentially influential factors, such as specific industry type, whether the SMEs were receiving external support or training for disability employment, or the educational backgrounds of the business owners. These variables could play a significant role in shaping owners’ knowledge of legal obligations and their perception of challenges. Future research should incorporate a wider range of variables and utilize a larger sample to conduct a more nuanced analysis of the factors influencing employer attitudes.

4.3. Practical Implications

This study offers several practical implications for promoting the employment of persons with disabilities in rural SMEs. First, it is important to provide SMEs with concrete examples of successful job creation and accommodation practices. Programs that facilitate peer learning and information exchange between SMEs—especially between those that have experience in employing persons with disabilities and those that do not—may enhance job-matching capabilities and reduce hesitation. Second, increasing opportunities for contact with persons with disabilities through internships or workplace experiences can help to demystify disability and foster more positive attitudes toward inclusive employment. Third, enhancing the accessibility and dissemination of support information from public agencies, such as job creation procedures and subsidy programs, is critical, particularly in rural areas where such information is often limited. These measures may contribute to addressing the challenges identified in this study and to promoting more inclusive employment practices across rural regions of Japan.

4.4. Limitations of This Study

This study was conducted among 40 SMEs in a rural area of Japan. The obtained results need to be carefully interpreted in terms of reliability and validity. The survey period was determined in cooperation with the partner SME association and extending it was not feasible due to their operational schedule and the defined timeline of our research project. We acknowledge that the small sample size of 40 SMEs limits the generalizability of our findings, and future research with a larger, more diverse sample is warranted to validate these preliminary results. The enterprises targeted in this study included not only those that employ persons with disabilities, but also those that do not. In this sense, although the sample was small, the cooperation was not necessarily limited to enterprises that emphasize social responsibility for the issues related to persons with disabilities. Despite the small sample, the present survey provides an important insight into awareness among SMEs in rural areas of Japan, offering a useful perspective for future policy measures regarding the employment of persons with disabilities. However, some questions remain, such as the bias of the industry types and whether enterprises’ awareness of the employment of persons with disabilities is truly representative. Future research should include a larger number of enterprises and detailed analysis should be conducted by industry type and enterprise size.
Although this study focused on business owners’ perspectives, it is important to incorporate the perspectives of persons with disabilities themselves in the future to clarify the gap between the issues faced by both enterprises and workers. Furthermore, compared to Western countries, Japan’s employment policies for persons with disabilities are more dependent on the autonomy of enterprises. Based on the findings of this work, it is necessary to conduct an international comparative study and aim to design more effective employment support policies for persons with disabilities. In the future, practical support measures should be developed based on more comprehensive data.
Furthermore, as this study focused on the perception of challenges internal to the companies, it did not investigate in detail such items as the awareness, utilization of, and need for government and external employment support services. Analyzing the relationship between these external support factors and companies’ internal perceptions of challenges remains an important area for future research.

5. Conclusions

In this study, we investigated the awareness of the employment of persons with disabilities among SMEs in rural areas of Japan. Since these are only the results of a survey of SMEs in rural areas, we cannot assert that this is the awareness of the employment of persons with disabilities among Japanese enterprises. However, since rural areas are also a part of Japan, this study is highly significant in clarifying the actual situation in rural areas where social resources and enterprises are scarce. The results revealed the awareness held by SMEs that inhibits their promotion of the employment of persons with disabilities. This issue of awareness would be resolved by understanding various cases of enterprises’ employment of persons with disabilities and by increasing their contact experience with them. Future policies will be required to convey familiar cases of this type of employment of persons with disabilities and to increase contact experience with them based on mentoring relationships among regional enterprises. In addition to domestic efforts, international models such as TranCen [52] in the United States and the WISE-Ability model [53] in Australia may offer valuable insights. These models provide structured support for employment transitions through school-to-work programs, supported employment, and collaboration with employers. Learning from such initiatives could help to inform the design of contextually appropriate support systems in rural Japan. For future research, it is necessary to increase the number of enterprises and determine whether the results of this study are affected by factors such as regional location and SMEs. It may also be necessary to compare the present results with those of studies conducted in Europe and the U.S. to determine cultural factors that may affect awareness of the employment of persons with disabilities. In addition to the present survey targeting enterprises, future research may be required to investigate the employed persons with disabilities and colleagues who directly support them, as well as increasing qualitative data, especially on the significance of the employment of persons with disabilities. This would shed further light on persons with disabilities in terms of their interaction with the environment. These issues will be the subjects of future research.

Author Contributions

K.M., K.Y., K.I. and H.T. conceived and designed the survey. K.M. performed the survey, analyzed and interpreted the data, and wrote the manuscript. K.M. performed the survey, analyzed and interpreted the data, and wrote the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up, “Research on How to Support the Social Transition in Children with Disabilities,” from the Faculty of Education and Human Sciences, Akita University.

Institutional Review Board Statement

This study was approved by the Ethics Review Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects at the Tegata District of Akita University (No. 6–50, 6 November 2024).

Informed Consent Statement

In conducting the survey, the protection of personal information was explained in the top page of the survey form, and consent was obtained from the participants by responding to the survey.

Data Availability Statement

Data are contained within the article.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the participants who supported this study.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Disability Language/Terminology Positionality Statement

In this study, we use the term “persons with disabilities,” following the terminology used in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and other international legal documents. This person-first language highlights the person before the disability and is consistent with legal and policy terminology in Japan as well. We chose this term to ensure clarity and consistency throughout the manuscript, as it is widely recognized in both Japanese and international legal and policy contexts. Our intention is to use respectful and appropriate language that aligns with the nature of this study.

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Table 1. Basic attributes of enterprises.
Table 1. Basic attributes of enterprises.
Industry Typen%
  Manufacturing1025
  Construction717.5
  Medical care, welfare615
  Wholesale and retail410
  Service industry (not classified elsewhere)410
  Agriculture and forestry25
  Lifestyle-related services and entertainment25
  Academic research, professional and technical services25
  Electricity, gas, heat supply, and water supply12.5
  Telecommunications12.5
  Education and learning support industry12.5
  Total40100
AverageSD
  Number of employees 36.4 persons37.3
Number of EmployeesNumber of Enterprises%
  1–392357.5
  40–991127.5
  ≥100 people37.5
  Unknown 37.5
  Total 40100.0
AverageSD
  Number of persons with disabilities employed0.5 persons1
Number of Persons with Disabilities EmployedNumber of Enterprises%
  No employment2369.7
  Employment available1030.3
    1.0 persons412.1
    1.5 persons13.0
    2.0 persons26.1
    2.5 persons13.0
    3.0 persons13.0
    3.5 persons00.0
    4.0 persons13.0
In Japan, it is a legal requirement that part-time employment of less than 20 h per week be counted as 0.5. SD: Standard deviation.
Table 2. Degree of awareness of issues for the employment of persons with disabilities.
Table 2. Degree of awareness of issues for the employment of persons with disabilities.
ItemMean ValueSD
1Finding jobs suitable for persons with disabilities4.21.14
2Allocating persons with disabilities to jobs suitable for their ability4.21.10
3Promoting the understanding of persons with disabilities among colleagues in the workplace3.71.33
4Communication with colleagues in the workplace3.71.21
5Improving the workplace environment for employment4.30.96
6Ascertaining the ability of persons with disabilities at the time of employment4.10.99
7Considerations for workplace retention after hiring4.11.01
8Skill development and career advancement for persons with disabilities3.91.08
9Post-employment management of persons with disabilities3.71.24
SD: standard deviation.
Table 3. Differences in awareness degree for issue items between the low- and high-understanding groups for the employment system.
Table 3. Differences in awareness degree for issue items between the low- and high-understanding groups for the employment system.
ItemUnderstanding LevelMean ValueSDt-Valuep-Value
1Finding jobs suitable for persons with disabilities.Low4.60.901.34n.s.
High4.11.18
2Allocating persons with disabilities into jobs suitable for their ability Low4.90.293.83**
High4.01.19
3Promoting the understanding of persons with disabilities among colleagues in the workplaceLow4.40.673.21**
High3.41.42
4Communication with colleagues in the workplaceLow4.11.041.38n.s.
High3.51.26
5Improving the work environment for employmentLow4.50.901.11n.s.
High4.11.05
6Ascertaining the ability of persons with disabilities at the time of employment Low4.01.10−0.51n.s.
High 4.20.94
7Considerations for workplace retention after hiringLow4.30.750.52n.s.
High 4.11.09
8Skill development and career advancement for persons with disabilitiesLow3.91.08−0.13n.s.
High 4.01.07
9Post-employment management of persons with disabilitiesLow3.61.31−0.31n.s.
High 3.71.21
SD: standard deviation. n.s.: no significance, ** p < 0.01.
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MDPI and ACS Style

Maebara, K.; Yamaguchi, K.; Ikeda, K.; Takahashi, H. Current Status and Issues of the Employment of Persons with Disabilities in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Rural Areas of Japan: A Survey from Business Owners’ Perspectives. Disabilities 2025, 5, 62. https://doi.org/10.3390/disabilities5030062

AMA Style

Maebara K, Yamaguchi K, Ikeda K, Takahashi H. Current Status and Issues of the Employment of Persons with Disabilities in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Rural Areas of Japan: A Survey from Business Owners’ Perspectives. Disabilities. 2025; 5(3):62. https://doi.org/10.3390/disabilities5030062

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maebara, Kazuaki, Kanae Yamaguchi, Kazuma Ikeda, and Hiroki Takahashi. 2025. "Current Status and Issues of the Employment of Persons with Disabilities in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Rural Areas of Japan: A Survey from Business Owners’ Perspectives" Disabilities 5, no. 3: 62. https://doi.org/10.3390/disabilities5030062

APA Style

Maebara, K., Yamaguchi, K., Ikeda, K., & Takahashi, H. (2025). Current Status and Issues of the Employment of Persons with Disabilities in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Rural Areas of Japan: A Survey from Business Owners’ Perspectives. Disabilities, 5(3), 62. https://doi.org/10.3390/disabilities5030062

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