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The Norwegian Unemployment – Disability Paradox

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Erwerbsverlauf und sozialer Schutz in Europa

Abstract

Seen from an international perspective, Norway has high employment rates and low unemployment rates among its older population. On the other hand, the share of persons aged 50–64 on disability pension is quite high compared to other European countries. Studies also show that a large proportion of disability insurance claims in Norway can be directly attributed to job displacement and other adverse shocks to employment opportunities. This indicates that there might be some hidden unemployment among Norway’s older population. This article describes and discusses this unemployment – disability paradox in light of relevant legislation, policies and recent research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    CSP is a resource centre working on encouraging and developing appropriate policies for older workers in the labour market by coordinating and facilitating cooperation between the authorities, enterprises, the social partners and professional organisations on issues pertaining to older workers.

  2. 2.

    An employee earns an entitlement to a maximum pension after 30 years in a full-time position. They can then get a retirement pension that represents 66 % of their final salary. This is before the adjustment for life expectancy. However, the new pension rules guarantee 66 % before the adjustment for life expectancy for those born before 1959. The new rules for those born after 1958 are not yet established.

  3. 3.

    The yearly minimum pension level (garantipensjonen) is, as per 01.05.2016, equal to NOK 179.748 (approximately 20.000 Euro).

  4. 4.

    However, they have the opportunity to continue working in the private sector without any earnings test.

  5. 5.

    This question was inspired by a study by Conen et al. (2012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fafo Institute of Labour and Social Research, PO Box 2947 Tøyen, 0608, Oslo, Norway

    Tove Midtsundstad

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  1. Tove Midtsundstad
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Correspondence to Tove Midtsundstad .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Sozialrecht und Sozialpolitik, München, Germany

    Eva Maria Hohnerlein

  2. Institut de l’Ouest: Droit et Europe (UMR CNRS 6262), Université de Rennes 1 , Rennes, France

    Sylvie Hennion

  3. Puyrolland, France

    Otto Kaufmann

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Midtsundstad, T. (2018). The Norwegian Unemployment – Disability Paradox. In: Hohnerlein, E., Hennion, S., Kaufmann, O. (eds) Erwerbsverlauf und sozialer Schutz in Europa. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-56033-4_44

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