New Zealand's rate of people on disability benefits is below the OECD average but more should be done to help people back to work earlier, a new report says.The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on sickness and disabilit
New Zealand's rate of people on disability benefits is below the OECD average but more should be done to help people back to work earlier, a new report says.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on sickness and disability included a section on New Zealand which tracked the path of increased disability numbers from when unemployment rose in the 1980s.
It noted while unemployment fell rapidly from the 1990s until 2007 the numbers on disability benefits continued to increase.
However, despite that continual increase the number of people of working age in New Zealand who received a disability benefit was below the OECD average. In 2008 it was 3.8 percent, compared to the OECD's 5.7 percent.
Other findings included:
* New Zealand's rate for older people (50-64-years) on a disability benefit was among the lowest in OECD but the country had the fifth-highest rate for young adults aged 20-34;
* Public spending on sickness and disability as a share of GDP was lower in New Zealand than the OECD average;
* The unemployment rate for people with chronic health problems or disability in 2006 was around half that of the OECD average -- 7.4 percent compared to 13.7 percent. But it was more than twice New Zealand's unemployment rate for people without health problems;
* Employment rates of people with health problems or disability in 2006 were among the highest in the OECD, 59.5 percent compared to 43.6 percent. However, incomes of those employed are lower than for the general population of New Zealand.
The report said early identification and intervention could be better.
"For most new benefit claimants, active measures are coming too late," the report said.
"Many people move onto sickness or disability benefit via other working-age benefits and have, thus, been out of work for many years."
It also said there wasn't monitoring of sick workers health status and more needed to be done to engage with employers. They should be given more responsibilities, matched by better financial incentives, to prevent illness and retain jobs.
Also employers needed better tools and supports to meet responsibilities.
Another recommendation was to turn sickness and disability benefits into re-employment payments.
"The voluntary nature of employment supports is the main factor in explain the low take-up of services - with only 10 percent of all sickness and invalid benefit recipients ever participating in interventions that help them leave benefit, compared to over 70 percent for those on unemployment benefit."
It also said the beneficiaries should face participation requirements similar to those used for unemployment benefit, in line with the person's work capacity.
The report said the social cost of people not working while on disability payments across the OECD was high and those people were far more likely to be poor.
It said employers should share the cost of paying sickness benefits for workers but those that hired people with health problems or disability should receive wage subsidies.
Social Development Minister Paula Minister said the Government was addressing the issue.
"This report highlights, just as the Welfare Working Group has, the failings of the benefits system and it's clear we cannot continue to just abandon these people and leave them to a life of welfare."
The Welfare Working Group, established by the Government in April to review the system, today released an options paper where it gave possible solutions to long-term dole dependency.
The group yesterday issued a report outlining a wide range of options focused on assessment, expectations, interventions and financial incentives, all aimed at getting people back into the workforce. It will be making final recommendations to the Government in February 2011.
