We analysed sickness and disability policies for the working-age population in a number of OECD countries, between the years
1990 and 2014. Existing evidence suggests that there has been a broad shift in focus from passive income maintenance to employment
incentives and reintegration policies. We have updated detailed policy scores provided by the OECD to estimate model-based
country clusters. Our results indicate that countries have pursued different types of reforms consisting of a combination
of integration and compensation measures. The reforms of recent decades have led to the emergence of a distinct cluster of
Northern and Continental European countries characterised by a combination of strong employment-oriented policies and comparatively
high social protection levels. An analysis of recent reforms shows a continued expansion of measures that foster employment
as well as instances of retrenchment in the compensation dimension. Diversity of policy settings across country groups, however,
remains substantial.
Keywords:OECD, TP_Alterung_Gesundheit disability policy, compensatory measures, labour market integration, model-based clustering,
social policy reforms
Research group:Labour Economics, Income and Social Security