Disability, Work and Inclusion in Korea

Annex C. Coverage of social protection for sick workers by type of worker in OECD countries

Table A C.1.  Part-time employees and those on permanent contracts generally have benefit access

Situation as of 2021 (ignoring temporary improvements implemented throughout the COVID-19 pandemic)

	Limitation of or less advantageous			access Explanation
	Part-time Workers	Temporary contract
		Sickness benefits	Employer-provided sick pay
Austria	O	O	O	Income requirement: No compulsory insurance if sum of all earnings below EUR 476 per month Tenure: 3 months for sickness benefits Generosity: longer duration employer-provided sick pay (6-12 weeks) and sickness benefits (6-12 months) for longer tenure
Belgium				Contribution period: 180 days of actual work or assimilated periods (unemployment, legal holidays, etc.) in 12 months
Canada				Contribution period: 600 hours of covered employment in the 52 weeks before sickness before the start of a claim or since the start of a last claim (whichever is shorter)
Chile				Contribution period: 6 months, incl. at least 3 months of contributions in the last 6 months (for contract workers latter is 30 days in last 6 months)
Colombia				Contribution period: 4 weeks
Costa Rica				Contribution period: 6 months in 12 months before sickness
Czech Republic	O			Income requirement: CZK 3 500 (EUR 147) per month
Denmark		O	O	Tenure: 240 hours within last 6 months and 74 hours within last 8 weeks
Estonia				Contribution period: 14 days
Finland			O	Generosity: Employer pays full salary for the first 9 days if the employment relationship has lasted at least one month. If under one month, 50% of the salary is paid
France			O	Generosity: longer duration employer-provided sick pay (10 days per 5-year seniority)
Germany	O		O	Income requirement: No compulsory insurance below EUR 450 per month or if short-term employed (3 months or 70 working days a year) Tenure: 4 uninterrupted weeks for employer-provided sick pay
Greece		O	O	Contribution period: 120 days in last year or 12 first months of the 15 months preceding the illness Tenure: 10 days
Iceland		O	O	Tenure: 2 months of work prior to illness Generosity: longer duration employer-provided sick pay commonly in collective agreements
Ireland	O			Income requirement: EUR 38 per week Contribution period: 104 weeks since first employment
Israel				No information available
Italy		O		Eligibility: Certain categories of workers, seasonal workers, and employees on fixed-term contracts, receive benefits directly by from social insurance rather than employer-provided sick pay
Japan	O			Income requirement: JPY 58 000 yen (EUR 410) per month
Korea	No scheme
Latvia				Contribution period: 3 months during the last 6 months or 6 months during the last 24 months
Lithuania				Contribution period: 3 months during the last 12 months or 6 months during the last 24 months
Luxembourg	O			Eligibility: Persons who are only engaged occasionally and not habitually in a professional activity are excluded
Mexico				Contribution period: 4 weeks before sickness (6 weeks in last four months for casual workers)
New Zealand		O		Tenure: 6 months current continuous employment with the same employer
Norway	O	O	O	Income requirement: NOK 53 200 (EUR 4 952) per year Tenure: 4 weeks
Poland				Contribution period: 30 calendar days
Portugal				Contribution period: 6 months Tenure: 12 days of actual work during 4 months preceding sickness
Slovak Republic	O			Eligibility: Not compulsory for those working on external employment contracts with irregular income
Spain	O			Income requirement: marginal salary: not a basic means to earn a living are excluded Contribution period: 180 days during 5 years prior to sickness
Sweden	O			Income requirement: SEK 11 424 (EUR 1 020) per year
Switzerland		O		Generosity: Duration is 3 weeks during the 1st year of tenure. Thereafter a longer period on an “equitable” basis
United Kingdom	O			Income requirement: GBP 113 (EUR 128) per week
United States	No scheme

Note: No scheme: no statutory sickness benefits or statutory employer-provided sick pay. Data refers to 2021, except for Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico (2019), and for Israel, Japan, Türkiye and the United Kingdom (2018).

Source: European Commission’s Mutual Information System on Social Protection (MISSOC); United States’ Social Security Administration’s Social Security Programs Throughout the World (SSPTW); OECD (2020[24]), “Paid sick leave to protect income, health and jobs through the COVID-19 crisis”, https://doi.org/10.1787/a9e1a154-en.

Table A C.2.  Self-employed workers often have worse statutory access to sickness benefits

Situation as of 2021 (ignoring temporary improvements implemented throughout the COVID-19 pandemic)

	Statutory access	Explanation
Australia	Standard	The jobseeker support system, implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic without foreseen end date, does not distinguish between self-employed and employees
Austria	Voluntary
Belgium	Partial	Waiting period: 7 days, unless sick for more than 7 days then no waiting period (no waiting period for employees). Benefit level: Lump-sum benefit level depending on household characteristics (dependents, living alone). Instead, employees receive income-dependent employer-provided sick pay for one month and then sickness benefits at 60% of their capped income. There are minimum sickness benefits amounts depending on household characteristics. The lump-sum benefit level that self-employed receive are below those minimum levels
Canada	Voluntary	Income requirement: 7 555 CAD/year (about EUR 5 000) for voluntary insurance. Contribution period: a year of life-time contributions (600 insured hours in the previous year for employees)
Chile	Standard	Income requirement: Voluntary insurance for self-employed making less than five times minimum wage
Colombia	Standard
Costa Rica	Standard
Czech Republic	Voluntary	Contribution period: 3 months (4 days for employees)
Denmark	Partial	Waiting period: 2 weeks (no waiting period for employees). Contribution period: 6 within 12 months (240 hours in 6 months for employees)
Estonia	Partial	Waiting period: 9 days (employees have 0)
Finland	Standard
France	Standard
Germany	Voluntary	Voluntary for certain occupations
Greece	Partial	Benefit level: lump-sum levels that depend on occupation and possibly household characteristics (earnings dependent for employees). Contribution period: no contribution period (120 days for employees)
Hungary	Standard
Iceland	Standard
Ireland	No access
Israel	No access
Italy	No access
Japan	Partial	Eligible for the national scheme under same rules as employees. Not eligible for the employee’s sickness insurance (to which only employees contribute)
Korea	No scheme
Latvia	Standard
Lithuania	Standard
Luxembourg	Standard
Mexico	No access
Netherlands	Voluntary	To be eligible for voluntary insurance, self-employed (1) must have been covered as employee or unemployed for a year and (2) opt in within 13 weeks of the end of mandatory coverage
New Zealand	Standard	The jobseeker support system, implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic without foreseen end date, does not distinguish between self-employed and employees
Norway	Partial	Income requirement: about EUR 5 000/year. Benefit level: 80% of average income (100% for employees). Duration: maximum 248 days (260 days for employees). Contribution period: 4 weeks (none for employees). Supplementary voluntary insurance available
Poland	Voluntary	Contribution period: 90 days for self-employed with voluntary insurance (30 for employees)
Portugal	Standard
Slovak Republic	Standard
Slovenia	Standard
Spain	Standard
Sweden	Partial	Waiting days: Self-employed choose between different schemes: 1, 14, 30, 60 or 90 waiting days, with lower contributions for longer waiting periods (no waiting period for employees)
Switzerland	Standard
Türkiye	Standard
United Kingdom	Partial	Benefit level: Self-employed and employees have access to the Employment and Support Allowance, a social assistance benefit for all workers. They do not have access to Statutory Sick Pay, which is employer-provided. Benefit generosity differs (GPB 74.70 instead of 96.35). Eligibility conditions can be stricter also.
United States	No scheme

Note: No scheme: no statutory sickness benefits. No access: statutory sickness benefit exists for full-time employees, but self-employed workers are excluded. Partial: eligibility conditions, waiting period, benefit level or benefit duration are less advantageous for self-employed compared to employees. Voluntary: self-employed can choose to opt in the statutory sickness benefit system for full-time employees. Data refers to 2021, except for Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico (2019), and for Iceland, Israel, Japan, Türkiye and the United Kingdom (2018).

Source: European Commission’s Mutual Information System on Social Protection (MISSOC); United States’ Social Security Administration’s Social Security Programs Throughout the World (SSPTW); OECD (2020[24]), “Paid sick leave to protect income, health and jobs through the COVID-19 crisis”, https://doi.org/10.1787/a9e1a154-en.