Dependence on wage substitute benefits

Estimates of the NEI Institute in Rotterdam and the OECD show what part of the population of working age is dependent on wage substitute benefits. This took into consideration benefits granted for early retirement, illness, disablement, unemployment, social need and for other reasons. From country to country, considerable differences exist in the dependence on wage substitutes for people in the ages of 15 to 64 years. In 1999 in Spain and Japan the dependency amounted to 11%, in Belgium and France to 24% and to a good 22% in Germany. Except for the United States, the percentage of recipients of wage substitute benefits rose in all OECD countries during the 1980s and 1990s.