Facts and figures on disability welfare

A pictographic portrait of an OECD report

PUBLICATION YEAR

2003

CITATION

Marin, B. & Prinz, Ch. (2003). Facts and Figures on Disability Welfare. A Pictographic Portrait of an OECD Report,  Occasional Reports Series 1. Vienna: European Centre.

DESCRIPTION

What share of the population is defined as (severely) disabled in which OECD countries? And how many people are awarded what disability benefits? with what trends over time? Where are men and where are women more affected by work incapacity ­ and who is granted what entitlements? What are the main determinants of disability prevalence? Are expenditures still rising? Is disability welfare more costly than unemployment, and if so, how much more expensive? What about personal and household income sources and income security of disabled persons? How many disabled persons are without income? For whom - disabled or not - does work pay? Is income maintenance or job discrimination the main problem for people with disabilities?

How much employment exclusion of persons with (severe) disabilities exists in which countries? How much less employment opportunities and how much more unemployment risk is there for people with what degree of disabilities, of what age, and with what education? How many recipients of a disability benefit actually work? How can great country differences be explained? To what an extent is non-employment and not unemployment the main joblessness problem of disabled persons? Are there gaps between shares of disabled people and disability beneficiaries - and how big are they? Where does a (great) majority of (severely) disabled people not receive a disability benefit? How many disability benefit recipients do not classify themselves as "disabled"? And in which OECD countries do these inclusion and exclusion errors amount to what scale?

What determines the employment rates of disabled persons? And how protected or regular are employment relations of disabled people? How do benefit inflow and outflow rates compare over the life cycle? Where are country divergences widest? What incapacity levels qualify where for what benefit entitlements? What differences are there in benefit rejection rates - and in appeals to benefit rejection and their probability of success? How much does early retirement coincide with age bias in disability benefit inflows - and where? How many more people are awarded a disability benefit than receiving vocational rehabilitation or other special employment services - and what are the extra costs of social exclusion? Do those most in need participate in active programmes; and if not, then who else does? Do participation in employment programmes or cash benefits raise employment rates of persons with disabilities? What is the employment value for active programme money? How do benefit coverage and generosity determine recipient numbers? How has the direction of disability policy changed during the last decades?

PUBLICATION DETAILS

Books & contributions to books