Sickness, Disability and Work: Breaking the Barriers: Canada

Sickness, Disability and Work: Breaking the Barriers: Canada

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Authors:
OECD
Publication Date :
30 July 2010
Pages :
85
ISBN :
9789264090422 (PDF)
DOI :
10.1787/9789264090422-en

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Sickness and disability policy reform has been a priority for OECD countries wanting to improve employment and social outcomes in this domain. The recent recession and corresponding fall in labour demand is expected to hit marginalised workers, including workers with health problems or disability, harder than the broader working-age population. There is a pressing need for policy makers to address the recent "medicalisation" of labour market problems, a phenomenon that appears to underlie much of the difficulties countries find in disability policy making. This report is an assessment of the Canadian situation, albeit through the lens of the federal government and the provinces of Québec, British Columbia and Manitoba. It looks at the current state of play following a decade of various reforms and preceding a period where further revisions are likely.
Also available in: French

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  • Mark
  • Executive Summary
    Canada, like other OECD nations, is working to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its policies for persons affected by sickness and disability. The employment picture for these persons is poor and as in other countries, this is associated with a heightened risk of being in or close to poverty and dependent on disability and other social welfare payments. The fall in labour demand since the start of the current economic downturn is especially concerning for such persons because they were already having difficulty finding work in the earlier part of this decade when the Canadian economy was growing strongly.
  • Setting the Scene
    At this moment, countries around the world are urgently seeking ways to manage the ongoing economic crisis and to respond to widespread associated job cuts which are dominating the headlines. Unemployment has risen fast during the recent downturn in many countries, including Canada, with the average OECD unemployment rate projected to reach almost 10% by end-2010.
  • Key Issues and Challenges
    The previous chapter shows that Canada has some of the major problems seen in most OECD countries, such as low employment and high unemployment of persons with disabilities. At the same time, the international trend towards increased use of disability benefits among the working-age population is not as apparent. While Canada is doing better than other countries in this respect, closer scrutiny of the shift to non-contributory payments as well as high poverty levels suggests low take-up does not necessarily mean that all persons with disabilities are getting the help they need to find work or the degree of income support they need to stay out of poverty. Attention is needed here as the current economic downturn is expected to make access to the labour market for marginalised groups such as persons with disabilities even more difficult, once they become unemployed. Poverty is already an issue for persons with disabilities and could become a major challenge for Canada as the effects of the crisis continue to unfold.
  • Summary and Recommendations
    Canada is facing similar sickness and disability policy challenges to many other OECD countries: low rates of employment and high rates of unemployment of people with health problems or disability; a much higher poverty risk for this population group; and growing dependence on disability benefits (though the latter varies by province). Some global trends are, however, less pronounced in Canada, such as the gradual shift from unemployment to disability and the rising incidence of mental illness as a basis for disability benefit claims. Other problems are more pronounced than on average across the OECD, in particular the large proportion of persons with disabilities facing poverty – an outcome in part related to the lower generosity and limited accessibility of its benefit system.
  • Annex. Major Reforms in Federal Policies for Persons with Disabilities (since 1980)
  • Acronyms
  • Bibliography
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