Sickness, Disability and Work: Breaking the Barriers: Sweden Will the Recent Reforms Make It?

Description

This report is an assessment of the Swedish reforms, which aim to lower inactivity and increase participation, against the background of recent trends and policy responses in other OECD countries. It looks at what Sweden is currently doing and what more it could do to transform its sickness and disability schemes from passive benefits to active support systems that promote work.




Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Chapter 1: Setting the Scene
1.1. Key trends since 1990
1.2. Major reforms in the period 1990-2006
A. The 1990s
B. Since the turn of the century
1.3. How Sweden compares with other OECD countries
A. Sickness and disability benefit
B. Social and economic integration of people with disability
Chapter 2: Recent and Ongoing Reforms
2.1. Benefit reforms
A. Sick-leave benefits: workers’ rights and responsibilities
B. Sick-leave benefits: employers rights and responsibilities
C. Sick-leave and disability benefits: the role of the SIA
D. Encouraging persons with disability back into the labour market
E. Employment programmes for persons with disability
2.2. Institutional reforms
A. Constraining medically determined sick-leave
B. Building rehabilitation capacity using a public-private approach
C. Restructuring the SIA 30
2.3. Comparing the reform intensity
Chapter 3: Making the Reforms Work
3.1. Ensure widespread acceptance of and support for reform
A. Involving all stakeholders
B. Supporting change in industrial relations
3.2. Strengthen responsibilities and incentives of key players
A. Employer responsibilities and incentives
B. Facilitating labour demand
C. Compliance with sick-leave guidelines
D. Incentives for county authorities
E. Making work pay
3.3. Facilitate policy implementation by continuing institutional change
A. Improving institutional cooperation
B. Modernising service provision
3.4. Conclusion
Bibliography
List of Acronyms