New 2013 Publications:

Tackling mental ill-health of the working-age population is becoming a key issue for labour market and social policies in OECD countries. OECD governments increasingly recognise that policy has a major role to play in keeping people with mental ill-health in employment or bringing those outside of the labour market back to it, and in preventing mental illness.

The new series of reports is looking at how the broader education, health, social and labour market policy challenges identified in Sick on the Job? Myths and Realities about Mental Health and Work (OECD, 2012) are being tackled in a number of OECD countries.

• Belgium   (January 2013) 
• Denmark (February 2013)
• Norway   (5th March 2013)
• Sweden  (5th March 2013)
• Forthcoming (2013-14): Australia, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Mental Health and Work Expert Seminar, 17 April 2013 - Lessons from the First Country Reports

Previous Publications

• December 2011: Mental illness is a growing problem in society and is increasingly affecting productivity and well-being in the workplace, says OECD.

  Sick on the Job? Myths and Realities about Mental Health and Work says that one in five workers suffer from a mental illness, such as depression or anxiety, and many are struggling to cope.

  The report challenges some of the myths around mental health and concludes that policymakers need to look for new solutions. Most people with a mental disorder work, with employment rates of between 55% to 70%, about 10 to 15 percentage points lower than for people without disorders.

  • Chapter 6 'Summary and Conclusions' (free PDF)
  • Press Release (English / French)
  • Fact Sheet (English / French)  and data from four figures
  • Key figures

• Welcoming remarks from Aart de Geus at the press conference in London (November 2010)
• Policy Paper: Improving social and labour market integration of people with disability
• Table of contents and list of tables and charts 
• Tables and charts (.xls) by chapter: one two (incl. revised table 2.1 on spending) 3-4-5 (.zip)
• Country Notes - Key findings and policy challenges:
  Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

• Canada: Canada: Breaking the Barriers: opportunities for Collaboration (2010)
• Sweden: Sweden: Will the Recent Reforms Make it? (2009)
• Vol. 3: Denmark, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands - see also a selection of tables & charts  (2008)
• Vol. 2: Australia, Luxembourg, Spain and the United Kingdom published Dec 2007 - see also a selection of tables & charts  (2007)
• Vol. 1: Sickness, disability and work: breaking the barriers in Norway, Poland and Switzerland published Nov 2006 - see also a Selection of tables & charts  (2006)

Transforming Disability into Ability, published in 2003, provides a systematic analysis of a wide array of labour market and social protection programmes aimed at people with disabilities.

Examining the relationship between policies and outcomes across 20 OECD countries, it highlights the dilemmas of disability policy and identified successful policy elements.

It concludes that a promising new disability policy approach should move closer to the philosophy of unemployment programmes, with a focus on activation, tailored early intervention, work incentives and mutual obligations.

- see also a selection of tables and charts.