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Going Dutch: A way to build sustainable support for disabled workers Presentation: Deputy Secretary-General Aart de Geus OECD Discussants: Richard V. Burkhauser Cornell University Visiting Scholar, AEI

Event Description:

Over the past five years, the Netherlands has undertaken a radical structural reform of its program for disabled workers.  With a commitment to spend a total amount of 2% of GDP, the Dutch have built a completely new system that is based on the principle of shared financial responsibility between workers and employers ("going Dutch").  

The reforms were driven by a consensus that the system was covering too many people and was too costly.  In the 1960-70s, the Netherlands created a very ambitious social security system. Workers were insured for old age, unemployment, health care and disability. In the 80-90s it became clear that these benefits were too costly, and too many workers ended up outside the labor market.  By 2002 when the reforms were initiated, as many as 1 out of 7 Dutch workers were "disabled.”  

With the support of Social Partners and the Medical Sector a complete new system was introduced. There is an important role for private insurance companies and private agencies that can bring disabled persons back to the labor market. The first results of the change are very encouraging: the inflow of disabled workers dropped by more than 50%. Another program, politically even more controversial, was the reassessment of disabled workers under 50 years. The benefits for this group were reduced by more than 30%, mostly as a result of higher participation.

The presentation will focus on three topics:

• What was the context for reform in The Netherlands?
• What were the nature and the result of the reforms on disability? And
• Which lessons could USA learn from this Dutch experience?

Biographies:

Deputy Secretary-General Aart de Geus took the post of OECD Deputy Secretary-General in March 2007. Before joining the OECD, Mr. de Geus, a Dutch national, was Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in the Netherlands from 2002. As Minister, Mr. De Geus introduced major reforms in the Dutch social security system, notably by turning it into an activating system where citizens, employers and local authorities take their own responsibilities. During the four years of his tenure, he concluded major national agreements with social partners on wages, reforms of social security and tax-facilities for early retirement. He chaired the OECD Social Policy Ministerial Meeting in 2005 and has served in various functions at local, national and international levels. Mr. de Geus also served as vice-chairman of the executive board of the National Federation of Christian Trade Unions, where he focused on social security, health care, pensions, labour market policy, income policy and education. He also worked as a lawyer in the industry sector of the Christian Trade Union. Mr. de Geus has a law degree from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam and post-graduate studies in labor law from Nifmegen University.

Richard V. Burkhauser is the Sarah Gibson Blanding Professor of Public Policy in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University. He is currently on sabbatical and is a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. His professional career has focused on how public policies affect the economic behavior and well-being of vulnerable populations, e.g., older persons, people with disabilities, low-skilled workers. He has published widely on these topics in journals of demography, economics, gerontology, as well as public policy.  As Co-Principal Investigator of the Center for Economic Research on Employment Policy for Persons with Disabilities and the Co-Principal Investigator of the Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics, he has carried out an extensive program of technical assistance and presentations to government agencies, policymakers, and consumers on the employment and economic well-being of people with disabilities. He was a U.S. Senate appointed member of the Ticket to Work/Work Incentives Improvement Act Advisory Panel (2000-2002), a member of the 2003 Technical Panel on Assumptions and Methods of the Social Security Actuaries (2002-2003), and a member of the Social Security Advisory Board Panel on a New Definition of Eligibility for Disability Benefits (2006). He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago.




For more information, please contact Susan Fridy,
OECD Washington Center, 202-822-3869

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