Irish Seminar on Disability - June 2008

First day: 26 June 2008

Welcome and Opening Statements by Mary Hanafin, Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Ireland), and John P. Martin, Director of the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (OECD)

Review session: The situation in the four countries and the OECD draft conclusions

Chair: Secretary General Bernadette Lacey (DSFA)

Introduction of the draft review report

Presentation of the key findings by the OECD review team

Denmark

OECD summary of key challenges in Denmark: Denmark has a high rate of employment and a low rate of unemployment. Any further increase in structural employment will therefore require the mobilisation of inactive people, many of whom have a health problem. Systems in place contain many good-practice elements, e.g. good sickness monitoring and a strong system of vocational rehabilitation, but they do not seem to deliver. For instance, recent comprehensive benefit reform has led to a significant increase in subsidised employment (so-called “flex-jobs”) without a fall in the numbers on disability benefit. This suggests that a main problem in Denmark is policy implementation and the inertia of social norms.

Lead discussant from Finland

Ireland

OECD summary of key challenges in Ireland: Ireland has seen very high rates of economic growth in the past 15 years, which has also translated into very strong employment growth. Disappointingly, this has not translated into higher employment rates of people with disability, which – at around 35% – are very low. It is only in recent years, with the 2004 National Disability Strategy, that the focus has shifted towards promoting employment opportunities for people with disability. So far, reform is lagging far behind what has happened in other OECD countries, although a number of important reforms with the potential to change systems and outcomes considerably are planned.

Lead discussant from the Netherlands

Review session (cont.)

Chair: Tom Mulherin (DSFA)

Finland

OECD summary of key challenges in Finland: Participation and employment rates in Finland are lower than in other Nordic countries, and unemployment rates higher. Nevertheless, labour shortages are arising in some sectors of the economy, due to skill mismatches. These problems will be further exacerbated by very fast population ageing in the future – the main driving force for the new labour market focus of sickness and disability policy. Currently, 8.4% of the working-age population receive a disability benefit. Large efforts will be needed to bring those of them who are able to work into employment, in view of the work disincentives for those people and the weaknesses of the activation system.

Lead discussant from Ireland

The Netherlands

OECD summary of key challenges in the Netherlands: Perhaps no other OECD country has such an interesting story to tell as the Netherlands. Driven by the very high rates of disability benefit recipiency in the 1980s and 1990s, comprehensive reform has changed the policy setup completely. In short, reform was characterised by a shift in responsibilities to employers and employees and the partial privatisation of hitherto public schemes. Recent outcomes are promising, but the long-term sustainability of these outcomes remains to be seen. Moreover, the rates of employment of people with disability are persistently low and have fallen further in the past few years, mostly due to declining hiring rates.

Lead discussant from Denmark

Session A: Municipal power and local policy implementation

Chair: Mark Pearson (OECD)

- What are the advantages of strong municipal involvement?

- What are the reasons for large cross-municipal differences in outcomes?

- What role for local employment and local social insurance offices?

- How can municipal/local implementation be monitored, and steered?

- How can municipal social services be integrated into employment services?

Contribution by Patrik Andersson, Sweden

Contribution by Kirsten Brix Pedersen, Denmark

Contribution by Frank Weldon, Canada

Second day: 27 June 2008 

Session B: Prevention, early intervention and systematic engagement

Chair: John P. Martin (OECD)

- How can prevention be promoted (e.g. via occupational health services)?

- How much responsibility can and should be given to employers?

- How can those benefiting from early intervention be identified?

- What type of early intervention is cost-effective?

- When should systematic engagement (with capacity assessment and referral to an adequate service, if necessary) be started?

Contribution by Nancy Wayland-Bigler, Switzerland

Contribution by Gerard van der Wel, The Netherlands

Contribution by Don Watts, Ireland

Session C: Labour demand – do we need a secondary labour market?

Chair: Stefano Scarpetta (OECD)

- Is there a demand for workers with reduced work capacity, especially in view of population ageing?

- How is labour demand for this group of workers affected by recent and expected migration streams?

- Is there a need for a secondary labour market and what could this look like?

- How can demand in the first labour market be stimulated?

- What role for social partners and collective agreements?

Contribution by Tom Dominique, Luxembourg

Contribution by Patrik Kuusinen, Finland

Contribution by Roland Schneider, TUAC

Closing statements

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