Disability pension receipt in young adults: an analysis of the Swiss Social protection and labour market (SESAM) data

Abstract

Background There has been an overall decreasing trend in the inflow into disability pension in Switzerland since 2003 with the exception of young adults. Disablement in young adulthood reflects a particularly critical phenomenon given the potentially far-reaching long-term social, economic and health consequences. The aim of this study was therefore to identify factors for disability pension in young adults aged 18–39, living in Switzerland. Methods We used the 2010–2015 cross-sections of the Social protection and labour market; a unique dataset linking microdata from the Swiss Labour Force Survey, the Swiss Central Compensation Office Register, and the Unemployment Insurance Register. Multiple logistic regression was employed to explore the association between demographic, socioeconomic, and health factors and disability pension in young adults living in Switzerland with long-term activity limitation ( N = 5306). Alternative specifications of the benchmark model were estimated as robustness checks; and subsample analyses were conducted excluding (i) those aged 18–24 and (ii) those with partial disability pension. Results Our regression results showed that those living without a working partner (OR 2.11; 95% CI 1.51–2.94) and without a child aged 0–14 (OR 2.15; 95% CI 1.48–3.12), born in Switzerland (OR 2.68; 95% CI 1.87–3.84), of higher age (OR 1.16; 95% CI 1.12–1.19), having completed at most lower secondary school (OR 3.26; 95% CI 2.24–4.76), lacking income throughout the four-year period prior to interview (OR 3.94; 95% CI 2.70–5.75), suffering from chronic illness (OR 4.52; 95% CI 2.83–7.19), and severe long-term activity limitation (OR 4.52; 95% CI 2.83–7.19) had higher odds of DP. Our findings were robust to alternative specifications and subsamples; and the alternative specifications revealed differences by learnt occupation, with highest odds for those without an occupational qualification (OR 5.93; 95% CI 3.72–9.46; p -value 0.000) and for those in ‘Manufacturing’ (OR 3.59; 95% CI 1.91–6.71) relative to ‘Health, education, culture, and science’. Conclusions Most importantly, our results showed that educational and employment factors are of high relevance, as well as chronic morbidity and severe long-term activity limitation. From a policy perspective, early intervention should thus focus on the attainment of vocational and academic qualifications beyond the lower secondary level, facilitating school-to-work transition and labour market integration.

Disability insurance benefit application in Switzerland: an analysis of linked administrative and survey data

“…Those in typically sedentary, white-collar occupations, such as business and administration, also showed higher DB application odds; a result not surprising in light of the evidence suggesting sedentary time to be associated with negative health issues [ 54 ]. Note that a Swiss study on the DP receipt in young adults found high odds of DP receipt in the above mentioned learnt occupational groups [ 5 ].…”

“…In addition, because of the data and method at hand, caution is warranted with causal interpretation. Many of these limitations apply to the general context of DB research in Switzerland [ 5 ]; hence future research should centre around overcoming these limitations by using even better data. Future research is also warranted focusing on the group of DB applicants in order to generate insights on their employment prospects in view of the Swiss DI’s guiding principle of ‘rehabilitation before pension’.…”

“…However, the results provided a less consistent picture on the role of marginalization in DB application than in other European countries; suggesting that DI was not a ‘reservoir’ for marginalised individuals within the Swiss social insurance system for the period under analysis. From a policy perspective, the findings regarding long-term health-related activity limitation and occupation reaffirmed the importance of well-targeted rehabilitation measures in order to achieve an optimal match between individual vulnerability and occupational characteristics [ 5 , 59 ].…”

“…Dichotomous variables for the respondent’s sex (‘Male’ versus ‘Female’), country of birth (‘Switzerland’ versus ‘Outside of Switzerland’), homeownership status (‘Homeowner’ versus ‘Renter’), the presence or absence of own children or step-children aged 14 years or younger and living in the same household were included. Similarly to a Swiss study on DP receipt [ 5 ], a dichotomous variable for the presence or absence of an employed partner in the household (cohabiting or married) was created combining (1) information on the relationship of household members to the survey respondent and (2) the respective household member’s employment status. The ‘Employed’ category included the following: employees, self-employed, apprentices, and family members working in family business.…”

State Policy of Foreign Countries Regarding Social Integration of Persons with Disabilities: Experience for Ukraine

“…Воно передбачає надання у користування спеціальних засобів комунікації: для людей із вадами слуху -слухові апарати та пристрої контролю звуку; для людей із вадами зору -системи читання та письма, електронні комунікатори, телефони. Соціальні послуги державного сектору також надають державні органи місцевої влади (кантони та комуни) [18].…”