“Isn’t it better that you become one hundred percent disabled and take care of your body?” This is how Hildonen tells about the feedback from people around her when she received partial disability benefits in 2022. – Then I said: “But I would like to do both”. That’s why I’m here. Hildonen works at the sorting center of Fretex in Oslo. One of the tasks is to sort clothes on the conveyor belt. She is here three days a week, with slightly shorter working hours. Previously, the team leader with personnel responsibility had a full-time job at Fretex. But then she got the joint disease osteoarthritis. – I have replaced both hips and knees. I can’t stand a seven and a half hour workday. That’s why I’m disabled, says Hildonen. Rita Hildonen has personnel responsibility and follows up on others who are away from work. The experience as a partially disabled person also comes in handy as a manager. Disabled people with work: Almost the same as in 2015 Many disabled people have an illness or injury that means they are unable to work. But if a disabled person, despite his illness, still manages to work a little, or more – the government wants people to be able to do this. However, little has happened in the last nine years in terms of the number of people who both receive disability benefits and who work at the same time. The proportion of people on disability benefits who have some form of paid work has almost stagnated since 2015. This is shown by recent figures from Statistics Norway. A beautiful, used dress. Now it can get a new life. Looking for “vintage” is also part of the job of Rita Hildonen, who both works and receives disability benefits. But the proportion of disabled people who act like her has almost stagnated in recent years. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news In 2015, 24.6 per cent of all people with disability benefits also had some form of job. This figure applies to both fully and partially disabled people. In 2023, the corresponding figure was 25.0 per cent. The proportion of disabled people who also work has changed by a few percentage points in recent years, but is now roughly the same as in 2015. In other words: Three out of four disabled people do not work at all, according to the figures from Statistics Norway. – We know that many people can work more, which is why it is worrying that those figures are actually resting on the spot, says State Secretary Kjetil Vevle (Ap) in the Ministry of Labor and Inclusion to news. If disabled people work as self-employed, they are not captured by the figures in the statistics from Statistics Norway. An old shirt that can be reused at Rita Hildonen’s workplace at Fretex in Oslo. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news Think more disabled people can work Senior researcher and director at the Frischsenteret Simen Markussen has researched the social security system. He believes that more disabled people than today can do something. – I think we have quite a lot of unfulfilled work potential in the group outside the working world, including the disabled, says Markussen. But at the same time emphasizes that “it has not been done in one fell swoop to realize it”. Researcher Simen Markussen believes that there are more disabled people who can work more, but that more steps are needed to make it happen. Photo: Frida Skauvik Aune / news The researcher believes that several measures can help: Making it more profitable for people on disability benefits to work more. Here, for example, the proposal for an additional tax deduction for earned income could be a good measure, according to Markussen. Increased use of financial support for employers who employ people with disability benefits, for example through the use of wage subsidies. The purpose is to make it financially profitable to hire people who struggle to meet the requirements for productivity as a result of the relatively high wages in Norway. – If we are to succeed in increasing labor participation among the disabled and others who are left out, then we must both make it more profitable to work, says Markussen. The current system is such that recipients of disability benefits can work and have an income, but this also reduces social security payments. – This makes it less profitable to work, but is also necessary to avoid unreasonable “double income”, says Markussen. Politicians have discussed what the income limit for this should be. You can see more about the political debate around the income limit for people on disability benefits who also work in news’s Debatten broadcast from October 2023: Ap believes many people can work quite a bit more. The government: – Many can work more State Secretary Kjetil Vevle (Ap) in the Ministry of Labor and Inclusion is concerned about the figures from Statistics Norway. – We want more of those who today want to work, and who can work, to come to work. He emphasizes that there are many disabled people who cannot work, due to health reasons. The State Secretary says the government must “turn on both the regulations and the measures going forward, so that more people can enter working life”. State Secretary Kjetil Vevle (Ap) in the Ministry of Labor and Inclusion. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news – There are many disabled people today who say that it is not worth working so much extra, because you are left with little in the end. What will you answer them? – The system today is set up in such a way that it pays to be at work. And we must have a system that makes it always worthwhile to be in work, but we must look at how the system works so that it becomes easier to combine being disabled with coming to work, he says, and continues: – Many people want to contribute more than they do today, and then we cannot have a system that puts a stop to that. Vevle refers to a report from Statistics Norway (SSB) which looked at whether the current system both gives people “incentives to work alongside social security”, while at the same time it should be profitable to work compared to combining work and social security. Statistics Norway concludes in the report: “Our main conclusion is that the current arrangement, with a free amount roughly around the current level, probably balances these considerations in a satisfactory way”. The government says it will consider any changes to the rules for combining disability benefits and earned income in its proposal for the state budget for 2025. Hildonen is happy that she can work at Fretex, even though she also receives disability benefits. – It feels wonderful to be here. Not having a job and everyday life to go to is very frustrating, Hildonen tells news. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news Published 11.07.2024, at 11.06
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Three out of four people on disability benefits do not work at all – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
