A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Equally to all? The significance of collectively negotiated sickness benefits in cross-nordic social policy analysis
Authors: Järvi Laura, Kuivalainen Susan
Publisher: Intersentia N.V.
Publication year: 2013
Journal: European Journal of Social Security
Number in series: 4
Volume: 15
Issue: 4
First page : 341
Last page: 357
Number of pages: 17
ISSN: 1388-2627
Previous research on social welfare has mostly concentrated on the statutory part of welfare delivering. By examining collectively negotiated sickness benefits, this article includes occupational welfare in cross-national analyses on social policy and sees how this changes the picture of Nordic welfare model. Instead of focusing on only one average worker wage, the article examines five different occupations representing both low- and high-skilled as well as public and private sector employees. Using the stylized case method and examining three different lengths of sickness spells, the study shows that different occupations are endowed with different rights when it comes to occupational benefits during sickness. Even though the length of sickness has its’ effect on the results, the article concludes that occupational welfare has reinforcing character when it comes to existing differences across occupations generated by public benefits. Therefore, the analyses bring evidence on not-so-equal aspects of the Nordic welfare model.