Netherlands: What Labour Market Exclusion Costs the State
What it costs the state in disability and sickness benefits when people are kept out of work, compared across European countries.
Country Profile
Direct benefit payments
UWV Jaarverslag 2024 — benefits paid under WIA, WAO, WAZ, Wajong and Ziektewet · 2024
→ Disability pension
UWV Jaarverslag 2024 — WIA, WAO, WAZ and Wajong benefits · 2024
→ Sickness benefit
UWV Jaarverslag 2024 — Ziektewet benefits · 2024
Local currency: €20.6bn
Per working-age adult
€1,785
Context
Covers WIA (€10.7bn), the older WAO and WAZ schemes (€3.3bn), Wajong for young disabled people (€4.1bn) and Ziektewet sickness benefit for people without an employer (€2.5bn). UWV made 69,046 new WIA awards in 2024. An independent government commission (OCTAS, 2023) found that annual inflow into WAO/WIA fell from 1.5% of the labour force in the late 1990s to 0.5% in 2022, comparable with neighbouring countries.
Methodology
Public cash benefits for disability and sickness paid by UWV in 2024, excluding employer social charges. Employer-paid sick pay, lost tax revenue and employment-programme costs are not included. Share of GDP uses Eurostat GDP for 2024; per working-age adult means per person aged 15–64 (Eurostat, 1 January 2024).
In Practice
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