this development may indicate that the quota system helped to increase the share of people with disabilities employed in private companies although there has not been any clear impact related to the increase in the legal employment quota from to in for larger companies it has increased steadily since the beginning of the s whereas among mediumsized companies to employees it declined between and although it has risen again since then the decline motivated the introduction of specific policy measures to promote the employment of people with disabilities in smes in addition to variations by firm size there are large differences by sector