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New Norwegian drive to find jobs for people with impaired work abilities

Organisations for people with disabilities along with the social partners didn’t hold back their praise when Norway’s Minister for Labour Hanne Bjurstrøm and Minister for Children, Equality and Social Inclusion Audun Lysbakken presented their ‘Job strategy for people with impaired work ability‘ during the presentation of Norway’s 2012 budget on 6 October.
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Reducing working life discrimination

Norway’s Minister for Labour Hanne Bjurstrøm and Minister for Children and Equality Audun Lysbakken  (picture above).

Job Strategy facts

The Norwegian government’s job strategy for people with impaired work abilities contains concrete measures to reduce the number of obstacles which prevent people with reduced abilities from finding work. The four main obstacles are: discrimination, cost, productivity and information and attitudes.

  1. Measures against the discrimination obstacle include:
    A revision of the civil service act and its employment rules for the public sector.
  2. Measures against the cost obstacle include:
    A trial using adaptation benefits for job seekers with impaired work abilities. This is a new measure aimed at covering documented costs linked to workplace adaptation. Both the job seeker and the employer should know what kind of benefits are on offer from the Labour and Welfare Service, and when measures will be in place. 
  3. Measures against the productivity obstacle include:
    Existing wage subsidies aimed at covering employers’ salary costs. More emphasis will be put on getting more people to finish their upper secondary education to avoid a lack of skills becoming an obstacle in the transition from school to working life.
  4. Measures against the information and attitude obstacle include:
    Increased use of internships organised by state and municipal authorities, to reduce employers‘ uncertainty and give individuals workplace training and work experience. The government suggests to adapt 500 traineeships especially for this measure. It has also been suggested to create new positions for working life coaches who will help employers who wish to hire or take on board people with impaired work abilities.

Read more about the government’s job strategy for people with impaired work abilities (in Norwegian)

 

Differences between the Nordic countries

The job strategy for people with impaired work abilities also highlights some of the differences between the Nordic countries:

  1. Norway uses a larger percentage of BNP on income support for people with impaired work abilities compared to other European countries.
  2. Sweden uses more money on overall support for people with impaired work abilities. 
  3. The total cost is slightly lower in Norway and Denmark.
  4. Swedish employers contribute more to the financing of income support for people with impaired work abilities compared to Denmark and Norway.
  5. The Nordic countries and the Netherlands have used more resources on work related measures compared to other OECD countries. Work related measures include measures to help increase employment and do not include costs of income support.
  6. Norway spends more resources on work related measures for people with impaired work abilities who take part in employment qualifying measures - often education - while Sweden and Denmark use more economic incentives targeted at employers. Sweden and Denmark also focus more on job training in ordinary work places and salary subsidies for employers compared to Norway.

Read more about the government’s job strategy for people with impaired work abilities (in Norwegian)

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