Norway

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Bråten, R. H., & Sten-Gahmberg, S. (2022). Unge uføre og veien til uføretrygd. Søkelys på arbeidslivet, 39(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/doi:10.18261/spa.39.1.4 

Over the last two decades, the number of young (18-29) disabled increased from 8000 to 21000 persons. This article investigates three possible explanations for this increase, related to increased morbidity, lowered threshold, and a transfer of family responsibilities to the state.

Persons below age 29 who were granted disability benefits over the period 2002-2017. 

Norway, national study. 

a) Administrative data, b) measures related to health, education and work, c) descriptive statistics, d) only national data. 

Individual barriers related to health and education. Structural barriers related to changes in requirements of functional ability in the labour market. 

Barrier 1 The share of young people with serious health issues has increased. 

Quality is medium to low. The descriptive analyses are informative, but does not invite to assessments of cause and effect.

I. Other comments: 

Hernaes, O. M. (2020). Distributional effects of welfare reform for young adults: An unconditional quantile regression approach. Labour Economics, 65. <Go to ISI>://WOS:000554820500003 

The increased use of conditions related to work and activation for young welfare recipients.

Individuals aging 26 to 30 years receiving welfare benefits. It was identified through population registers. 

Norway, national study. 

a) population based register data, b) measures related to work and earnings , c) Difference in difference strategy, d) no cross-country comparison. 

General barriers related to moral hazard of generous social welfare programmes. 

Barrier 1 Moral hazard in the benefit system.

Barrier 2 Women are more responsive – gain more – from the use of conditions. 

Barrier 3 Moral hazard is strongest in the lower part of the income distribution. 

[Add more barriers if needed]. 

Quality seems high. The causal identification strategy is elaborate and seems to be sound.

I. Other comments: 

Frøyland, K. A., Andreea L.; Ballo, Jannike G.; Leseth, Anne; Sadeghi, Talieh; Abdelzadeh, Ali; Anvik, Cecilie H.; Einarsdóttir, Margrét; Gaini, Firouz; Görlich, Anne; Julkunen, Ilse; Larsen, Christina V. L. (2022). Inclusion of young people in school, work and society – a review of Nordic research literature (AFI rapport, Issue 3).

This is a broad comparative literature review including the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. It contains a broad spectrum of analyses. Here, I have emphasized the structural factors related to the country level.

Vulnerable young people between ages 13 and 29 who for health or other reasons struggle to complete an education and/or find a job. 

Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, not specified on regions or cities. 

a) Literature review of 84 Nordic studies, b) several measures related to health, education and work, c) Qualitative analysis of secondary literature, d) the study deploys Nordic cross-country data. 

All kinds of barriers have been identified. I have emphasized barriers identified at the country level in cross-country comparisons. 

Barrier 1.
An increase in poor well-being and mental health problems is a common problem in the Nordic countries. 

Barrier 2. The importance of holistic individual support to overcome obstacles is considered important. 

Barrier 3. Several common risk factors: foreign background, low education, health problems, low self-confidence, and experiences of unemployment. 

Quality is medium to low. This is a broad meta study which includes several relevant studies. Some important studies are, however, left out.

Vogt. K. C., Lorentzen, T. & Hansen, H. T. (2020) Are low-skilled young people increasingly useless, and are men the losers among them?, Journal of Education and Work, 33:5-6, 392-409, DOI: 10.1080/13639080.2020.1820965

School-to-work trajectories of early school leavers over a period of two decades in light of changes in welfare policy and labour market changes.

Early school leavers aging 16-26 over the period 1994-2015. Target group is identified using population-based administrative data. 

Norway, nationwide. 

a) Population based administrative data, b) measures related to school, work and welfare trajectories, c) sequence analysis, d) no cross-country comparisons. 

Barriers related to labour market changes and a more difficult situation over time for young people without educational credentials. 

Barrier 1.
Increased labour market exclusion for recent cohorts of early school leavers. 

Barrier 2. Changes in welfare policy might increase the risk of medicalization of young people’s challenges. 

Barrier 3. Women without formal educational credential faces the most challenging labour market prospects due to the gendered labour market and availability of alternative welfare-state benefits. 

[Add more barriers if needed] 

High to medium quality. The study utilise a novel explorative methodological approach and high quality register data. The study has no explicit causal identification strategy.

This study also includes barriers related to employers and the economy.

Anders Underthun, A. G. S., Arild H. Steen, Elin Moen Dahl, Per Erik Solem (2021). Et arbeidsliv under omstilling: Er det plass for seniorene? (AFI rapport, Issue 7). O. MET.

This is a broad study of how older employees are affected by and treated by businesses undergoing restructuring-processes.

Workers over 55 years working in businesses undergoing restructuring. 

Norway, nationwide study. 

a) Interviews and survey data, b) measures related to ageism, c) explorative qualitative analyses and descriptive quantitative analyses, d) No cross-country comparisons. 

Age-related barriers related to keeping and hiring employees during restructuring processes. 

Barrier 1 . Older workers are seen as less adaptable to restructuring processes than younger workers. 

Barrier 2 . Older workers are considered less attractive when businesses recruit new employees. 

Barrier 3 . Age is seen as less of a “problem” in public sector work. 

[Add more barriers if needed] 

H. Quality of the study: High, medium, low + comments
Medium to low quality. A rich and complex data material. No novel identification strategies or attempts to uncover causal effects.

This study also contains several barriers related to employers and the economy.

Hermansen, Å., & Midtsundstad, T. (2018). The Effect of Retaining Bonuses on Delaying Early Retirement – Financial Incentives Revisited. Journal of Working Life Studies, 8(1). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.v8i1.104848 

How can employers define the opportunities for delaying retirement and stay longer in the work force?

Persons above 61 who qualify for early retirement (AFP). 

Norway, national study. 

a) All 61-year-olds employed in one of 437 companies sampled for the survey, b) outcome measured as withdrawal of a contractual pension in the next two years of employment, c) fixed-effects regression, d) no cross-country comparisons. 

The importance of financial incentives in the transition between work and retirement. 

Barrier 1. Retaining bonuses of 20 000 NOK reduce the probability of retiring early by 5.7%. 

Barrier 2. Retainment bonuses are more efficient for men than for women. 

Barrier 3. Retainment bonuses have a stronger effect for woman at the bottom of the income distribution. 

Quality seems high. Data are high-quality administrative data merged with survey data. The methodological approach is sound and takses into account unobserved heterogeneity.

Midtsundstad, T. (2018). Older workers' opportunity for phased retirement. Søkelys på arbeidslivet, 35(4), 313-329. https://doi.org/doi:10.18261/issn.1504-7989-2018-04-05

Part-time work has been declared a solution for everything from sick leave to early retirement. Even so, more than one in three employers find it difficult to offer older workers part-time work.

Workers older than 55 years. 

Norway, national study of 800 businesses. 

a) Survey data from 800 Norwegian businesses, b) part-time work feasibility, c) logistic regression, d) no cross-country comparisons. 

Part-time work for older workers requires that businesses provide this opportunity. The study looks into the share of businesses offering this and the characteristics of businesses who find it difficult to offer part-time work. 

Barrier 1 . The share of businesses offering part time work for older workers is lower in industries with a high number of workers with low education. 

Barrier 2. Part-time work is most viable in medium-sized businesses with between 20-100 employees. 

Barrier 3. More difficult to offer part-time work in male-dominated industries. 

[Add more barriers if needed] 

Medium quality. Based on survey data with some non-response challenges. No causal identification strategies.

Hansen, H. T., & Lorentzen, T. (2019). Work and welfare-state trajectories in Norway over two decades: Has the goal of getting more people into work been achieved? International Journal of Social Welfare, 28(3), 246-259. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.1235 

Holistic work and welfare-state trajectories over time, covering a period of an extensive welfare reform aimed at getting more people into work. 

Three cohorts of 44–60-year-olds followed over two decades. 

Norway, population based. 

a) Samples drawn from population based administrative data, b) holistic trajectories through work and welfare, c) Optimal Matching, cluster analysis and Mahalanobis matching, d) No cross-country comparisons. 

F. Overall characteristic of the barriers identified by this study
Barriers related to welfare state reform and long-term changes of the labour market. 

G. Brief description of the specific barrier(s) the target group faces as identified in this study
Barrier 1. Among the high-risk-of-disability population, economic fluctuations are important for work and unemployment experiences. 

Barrier 2. A sharp drop in stable employment over the observation period replaced by trajectories with income sources provided by the welfare state. 

Barrier 3 .Welfare state reform seems to have created a new problem by steering people into temporary and less secure income sources from the welfare state.

H. Quality of the study: High, medium, low + comments
Quality is high. The analyses are novel and based on high-quality administrative data. The study is mostly descriptive and explorative. No causal identification strategies have been applied.

Tønnessen, M., & Syse, A. (2021). Growing numbers of older immigrants in Norway's future labour force. Søkelys på arbeidslivet, 38(1), 4-22. https://doi.org/doi:10.18261/issn.1504-7989-2021-01-01

The number of older immigrants will increase in the future. This might pose challenges for the labour market, since this group is likely to be lower educated and have lower labour market participation rates than natives.

Older immigrants (55-66) in Norway. 

Norway, population based. 

a) Population-based administrative data, b) extrapolations of socio-demographic characteristics, c) extrapolations based on a “cohort-component” approach, d) no cross-country comparisons. 

F. Overall characteristic of the barriers identified by this study
Over the coming two decades, there will be a massive growth in the number of older immigrants. The strongest increase will come from non-western immigrants. This group is expected to have a much lower labour market participation than natives. 

G. Brief description of the specific barrier(s) the target group faces as identified in this study
Barrier 1. Lack of higher education in the group of older immigrants. 

Barrier 2. Increasing gender differences in education in the advantage of immigrant-women.

Barrier 3. Lower work activity among older immigrants. 

H. Quality of the study: High, medium, low + comments
The quality of the study seems high. It is highly descriptive and based on extrapolations, but the authors follow well established procedures shared by Statistics Norway.

Bratsberg, B., Raaum, O., & Roed, K. (2020). Immigrant Responses to Social Insurance Generosity. Labour Economics, 65. <Go to ISI>://WOS:000554820500019

Immigrants from low-income countries tend to be underrepresented in employment and overrepresented in social insurance programs. In this study, the authors examine whether this reflects differences in impacts of benefit incentives.

Immigrants to Norway from low-income countries. 

D. Location of the study: Country, region, city 
Norway, full population.

a) Population based administrative data, b) receipt of temporary disability benefits; spousal earnings; household income, c) Quasi experimental – discontinuity design, d) no cross-country comparison. 

Replacement ratios within social insurance programs are larger for individuals with bleak labour market opportunities, and the moral hazard affecting work incentives is potentially more important for immigrants.

Barrier 1. The economic rewards for being employed are much larger for natives.

Barrier 2. Greater responses to benefit generosity among immigrants from low-income countries when compared to natives.

High quality. Novel quasi-experimental approach utilising high quality population based data.

Hoen, M. F. (2020). Immigration and the Tower of Babel: Using language barriers to identify individual labor market effects of immigration. Labour Economics, 65. <Go to ISI>://WOS:000554820500007

What happens to the labour market careers of native workers after a sudden inflow of migrants into their occupation.

Target group is Norwegian employees and immigrants in occupations exposed to increased EU12 immigration. 

Norway, population based. 

a) Administrative data, b) labour earnings, c) instrument variable approach, d) no cross-country comparisons. 

Natives without language protection experience a substantial earnings loss from increased migrant competition. Increased disability program participation was also identified. 

Barrier 1. Increased competition from EU12 immigrants. 

Barrier 2. Lacking language skills among immigrants. 

Barrier 3. Lack of employment protection and minimum wages. 

[Add more barriers if needed] 

Quality seems high. The analyses are based on high-quality data utilising a novel identification strategy.

Kann, I. C. D., Therese; Yin, Jun. (2019). Arbeidsledige innvandrere - hvor lenge er de ledige og hva gjør de etterpå? (4). Arbeid og Velferd, Issue. NAV.

This study investigates how transitions to work, health-related benefits and other social security benefits change over time for unemployed immigrants versus natives.

Unemployed immigrants. Group was identified using administrative data from the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV). 

Norway, population based. 

a) administrative data from NAV, b) Work, health-related benefits, and other social security benefits, c) competing risk hazard-rate model, d) no cross-country comparisons. 

The study focuses specifically on duration dependency among immigrants versus natives, and how it differs for transitions to work, health-related benefits, and other social security benefits. 

Barrier 1. Negative duration dependency in the transition to work. 

Barrier 2. Immigrants from low-income countries without earned rights to unemployment benefits have the lowest probability of entering work from unemployment. 

[Add more barriers if needed] 

Medium quality. Data quality is high and based on population registers, but identification strategy does not take into account selection effects and unobserved heterogeneity.

I. Other comments: 

Markussen, S., & Røed, K. (2020). Does medicalization of young people contribute to exclusion from education and employment? Søkelys på arbeidslivet, 37(4), 219-237. https://doi.org/doi:10.18261/issn.1504-7989-2020-04-01

There has been a strong increase in the number of young people on disability and health-related benefits. At the same time, there has been a strong parallel increase in the occurrence and treatment of mental health problems among young people.

Young people with mental health problems.

Norway, national study.

a) Administrative population data, b) mental health and education, c) quasi-experimental (natural experiment), d) no cross-national comparisons. 

Focus on individual health and whether a strong focus on health and treatment for mental health problems leads to unfavorable outcomes in school, work life, and social welfare benefits. 

Barrier 1. Focus on health and health problems and whether focus on health promotes lower school grades, lower job-probability, and higher risk of social benefits. 

Barrier 2. Low education and qualifications.

High. Seems to be well exceuted and utilises high-quality population data.

Fevang, E. (2020). Health-related benefits and hidden unemployment. Søkelys på arbeidslivet, 37(3), 201-215. doi:doi:10.18261/issn.1504-7989-2020-03-0

High take-up rates of health-related benefits might hide an unemployment problem. This might be an indicator of “medicalization” of unemployment problems.

Unemployed and persons on health-related benefits. 

Norway, covers the whole country. 

a) Meta study synthesizing Norwegian and international studies on b) incentive explanations and changes in the labour market. C) No specific methods for the literature review mentioned. d) The study contains cross-country comparisons. 

The study looks into two competing explanations for high shares on health-related benefits in Norway: Generous health-related benefits combined with less generous unemployment benefits vs. changes in the labour market caused by focus on efficiency and productivity. 

Barrier 1. Economic incentives leads to high number of persons on health-related benefits. 

Barrier 2. Changes in the labour market – related to increased focus on efficiency and productivity - might lead to less available jobs for persons with low qualifications / bad health. 

Medium quality. Is mainly focused on economy literature. No formalised approach to the literature review mentioned.

Provides an up to date review on research on health related benefits in Norway.

Fevang, E. (2020). Health-related benefits and hidden unemployment. Søkelys på arbeidslivet, 37(3), 201-215. https://doi.org/doi:10.18261/issn.1504-7989-2020-03-05

High take-up rates of health-related benefits might hide an unemployment problem. This might be an indicator of “medicalization” of unemployment problems.

Unemployed and persons on health-related benefits. 

Norway, covers the whole country. 

a) Meta study synthesizing Norwegian and international studies on b) incentive explanations and changes in the labour market. C) No specific methods for the literature review mentioned. d) The study contains cross-country comparisons. 

The study investigates two competing explanations for high shares on health-related benefits in Norway: Generous health-related benefits combined with less generous unemployment benefits vs. changes in the labour market caused by focus on efficiency and productivity.

G. Brief description of the specific barrier(s) the target group faces as identified in this study
Barrier 1. Increased work force requirements might lead to less available jobs for persons with low qualifications. 

Barrier 2. Generous health-related benefits might contribute to “medicalization” of unemployment. 

H. Quality of the study: High, medium, low + comments
Medium quality. Is mainly focused on economy literature. No formalised approach to the literature review mentioned.

I. Other comments:
This article is also used for ”Barriers related to incentives”.

Bråthen, M. (2020). Following up job seekers with mental health problems - dilemmas facing caseworkers. Søkelys på arbeidslivet, 37(1-02), 52-66. doi:10.18261/issn.1504-7989-2020-01-02-04 

Norwegian Labour and Welfare Services’ (NAV) follow-up of jobseekers with mental health problems. Relates to public employment service (PES) and caseworker barriers working with job seekers with mental health problems.

Jobseekers with mental health problems. Target group is identified by NAV caseworkers. 

D. Location of the study: Country, region, city 
Norway, NAV offices in the counties of Oslo, Agder, Hordaland, Trøndelag and Østfold. 

a) Qualitative interviews, b) mental health, c) thematic analysis of the interviews, d) Norwegian data only.

The overall barriers identified in the study are related to conflicts between caseworker resources / expectations and principles guiding Supported Employment practice. 

Barrier 1. Anxiety and insecurity related to work skills and skills related to social settings. 

Barrier 2. Lack of time and resources to establish trust between caseworker and client. 

Barrier 3. Matching between work requirements and health status. Problematic to promote clients evaluated as too sick to function for positions in the work force. 

H. Quality of the study: High, medium, low + comments
High. This is a well planned and executed qualitative study.

I. Other comments: