Factors Associated with Occupational Disability Classification

Abstract

To provide disabled people with the same opportunities to participate in working life as everyone else, certain measures, such as wage subsidies, compensating for a reduced work capacity, might be necessary. To ascertain that these measures are limited to the most needy a system that identifies the target group is required. The Swedish Public Employment Service's (PES') classification of occupational disability constitutes such a system. In this study we document how jobseekers' demographic characteristics, socioeconomic position, and health-related conditions are associated with being classified as occupationally disabled by the PES, and how this classification might be distorted by unintended incentive mechanisms. Our empirical analyses show that both previous health conditions and previous socioeconomic disadvantages were associated with a higher likelihood of being classified as occupationally disabled. To what extent these jobseekers actually had impairments that entailed reduced work capacity cannot be concluded from the available data, but our results indicate that also the goals set by the government may have influenced how the PES classified jobseekers.

Wage subsidies targeted to jobseekers with disabilities: subsequent employment and disability retirement

“…12 More detailed descriptions, including a discussion about the incentives of the PES to provide a disability code, and of the job seekers to obtain one, is given in Angelov and Eliason (2018) and Johansson and Skedinger (2009). 13 Socio-medical disability is a code that lacks an international equivalent.…”

A Note on Possible Estimation Bias When Studying Persons with Work Disability in Active Labour Market Programs

“…Nuffield Foundation (2012). Once these persons enter the labour market, many of them will show up in PES's records; while some are registered with a work disability already at the time they are registered as unemployed, for others this will not be the case before some time has passed, for example because a case 13 For a discussion on different classifications of the PES' occupational disability coding system see Angelov and Eliason (2014b).…”

“…The guidelines applied at the Swedish Public Employment Service (PES) regarding the recording of disability do not follow a rigorous and standardised order. According to Angelov and Eliason (2014b), who study the likelihood of getting a disability classification or not during the period 2003-2008, certain volume targets can determine who and how many persons that receive a disability registered. Certain measures, such as work aids or some forms of subsidized employment, require that the persons have received a disability classification before they can be assigned to such measures.…”

“…To some extent, it can be said that the registration of a disability is related to the question of what measures should be taken to help that person. Angelov and Eliason (2014b) also points out that the fact that a disability is registered can have its downsides. This follows from that persons who get a code are at risk of being stigmatized, or that it can affect their self-perception in a negative way.…”

Editorial Review: Touring the Archive 1999–2017 and Mapping the Future of Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research

“…Criteria for what is needed to be a worker, shape who is defined as work able or work disabled. Angelov and Eliason (2018) critically explore discursive framings of both disability and workability within Swedish Public Employment Service's classification of occupational disability. They argue that demographic characteristics, socioeconomic position, and health-related conditions are associated with higher risks of being classified as occupationally disabled.…”