Sweden: 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
Försäkringskassans årsredovisning 2024, tabell 2 — sjukersättning, aktivitetsersättning and sjukpenning · 2024
→ Disability pension
Försäkringskassans årsredovisning 2024 — sjukersättning and aktivitetsersättning (SEK 45.4bn) · 2024
→ Sickness benefit
Försäkringskassans årsredovisning 2024 — sjukpenning (SEK 50.9bn) · 2024
Local currency: SEK 96.3bn
Per working-age adult
€1,281
Context
Covers sjukersättning (long-term disability benefit), aktivitetsersättning (disability benefit for younger people) and sjukpenning (sickness benefit). In 2024, 237,082 people were paid sjukersättning and 40,144 aktivitetsersättning. A reform on 1 July 2008 tightened the criteria for sjukersättning and abolished the time-limited version (ISF, 2023).
Methodology
Public cash benefits for disability and sickness, 2024. Försäkringskassan's figures include state old-age pension contributions on these benefits. Employer sick pay, lost tax revenue, healthcare and employment-programme costs are not included. Converted at the Eurostat 2024 average rate (SEK 11.4325 per EUR). Share of GDP uses Eurostat GDP for 2024; per working-age adult means per person aged 15–64 (Eurostat, 1 January 2024).
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