Ministries check disability employment rates as government investigates allegations they were miscalculated for over 40 years

The land and internal affairs ministries admitted Friday they may have padded their employment rates of people with disabilities, following the launch of a government investigation into the matter.

Nearly 10 ministries are suspected of having inflated their figures routinely for over 40 years. The revelation is likely to spark criticism of the government given that it has long called on the private sector to hire more people with disabilities.

Ministries and agencies are believed to have misrepresented the rates by including in their head counts personnel with relatively mild disabilities who do not carry disability certificates. Officials at the land and internal affairs ministries have said that people without the disability certificates may have been included in the calculations.