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Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich damit, ob steuerliche Begünstigungen, welche im Rahmen einer Betriebsaufgabe/Betriebsveräußerung lukriert wurden, zurückzuzahlen sein sollten, wenn der Betriebsinhaber auf Wunsch der Öffentlichkeit eine Erwerbstätigkeit wiederaufnimmt. Um dies beantworten zu können, wurden Definitionen für die Begriffe Betriebsaufgabe, Liquidation und Beendigung der Unternehmereigenschaft herausgearbeitet, sowie der Zeitpunkt, wann diese vollzogen wurden. In weiterer Folge wurden die ertragsteuerlichen Begünstigungen dargestellt und im Bereich der Umsatzsteuer die Möglichkeiten einer etwaigen Vorsteuerkorrektur im Vergleich zur Normalbesteuerung. Anhand eines konkreten Anlassfalles und der damit zusammenhängenden Judikatur, wurde die Forschungsfrage dahingehend beantwortet, dass nur bei Änderung durch den Gesetzgeber eine berufliche Wiederbetätigung nicht schädlich für eine Begünstigung im Zusammenhang mit einer Betriebsaufgabe/Betriebsveräußerung ist. This thesis deals with the question, whether tax benefits that were obtained in the course of a business cessation/sale should be repaid if the business owner resumes a gainful activity at the request of the public. In order to be able to answer this question, definitions of the terms business cessation, liquidation and termination of entrepreneurial status were worked out, as well as the point in time when these were carried out. Subsequently, the income tax benefits were presented and, in the area of value added tax, the possibilities of a possible input tax correction in comparison to normal taxation. Based on a specific case and the related case law, the research question was answered to the effect that a professional re-employment is not detrimental to a tax advantage in connection with a business transfer/sale only in the event of a change by the legislator.

Over the past decade, the number of young people neither in employment, education, or training (NEET) has reached a seriously high level in many European countries. Previous studies have illustrated the heterogeneity of this group and that they differ considerably across Europe. However, the reasons of these cross-country differences have hardly been investigated so far. This study explores how the rates of different NEET subgroups are conditioned by various institutional configurations by applying fuzzy-set Quantitative Comparative Analysis for 26 European countries using aggregated EU Labour Force Survey data from 2018. The analysis reveals that institutional causes of being NEET are as diverse as the group itself. Thus, high levels of young NEETs with care responsibilities are found in countries with a lack of family-related services in conjunction with weak formalised long-term care as it is true in mostly Central Eastern European countries. In contrast, high rates of NEETs with a disability are prevalent mainly in Northern European countries where generous and inefficient disability benefit schemes exist that create false incentives to stay away from the labour market. Finally, high proportions of unemployed and discouraged young NEETs are found in those countries hit hardest by the crisis and with high labour market rigidities, low vocational specificity, and a lack of active labour market policies like in the Southern and some Central Eastern European countries. The results illustrate that young people face very different barriers across Europe and that country-specific measures must be taken to reduce the number of NEETs in Europe.

Viele Menschen, die in Deutschland als langzeitarbeitslos gelten, werden in anderen Ländern nicht zu den Langzeitarbeitslosen gezählt, da sie eine Erwerbsunfähigkeits- oder eine Frührente beziehen. Sobald dies berücksichtigt wird, ist Deutschland weit weniger von Langzeiterwerbslosigkeit betroffen als die meisten anderen Länder.

Künftig ist der Arbeitgeber zu einem betrieblichen Eingliederungsmanagement für Beschäftigte, die innerhalb eines Jahres länger als sechs Wochen wiederholt oder ununterbrochen arbeitsunfähig sind, verpflichtet. Dadurch sollen erneuter Arbeitsunfähigkeit vorgebeugt, Anreize zu betrieblicher Prävention gesetzt und der Arbeitsplatz erhalten werden. Stefan Bornemann, Universität München, analysiert die Neuregelung aus Sicht der Humankapitaltheorie. Er zeigt auf, dass sie zu einem Anstieg der Lohnzusatzkosten führt, so dass gerade bei Tätigkeiten mit einfacher Qualifikation ein unerwünschter Rückgang der Arbeitsnachfrage erwarten werden muss.

Die Ursachen für den Bezug einer Erwerbsminderungsrente haben sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten stark verändert. Obgleich auch heute noch das Risiko dominiert, aufgrund von chronischen körperlichen Erkrankungen den Arbeitsmarkt vorzeitig zu verlassen, haben die psychischen Erkrankungen als Grund für den Bezug von Erwerbsminderungsrente absolut sowie relativ zugenommen. Für evidenzbasierte politische Entscheidungen und Präventionsansätze werden verlässliche Informationen und Analysen benötigt. Auf Grundlage von prozessproduzierten Daten des Forschungsdatenzentrums der Rentenversicherung(FDZ-RV) und der regionalen INKAR-Daten (Indikatoren und Karten zur Raumund Stadtentwicklung) geht der vorliegende Beitrag der Frage nach, welche Personenkreise besonders häufig somatische und psychische Erkrankungen aufweisen, und in welchen Regionen diese Personen wohnen., Informationsdienst Soziale Indikatoren No. 51 (2014). Beginn und Erscheinungsfrequenz: Jahr: 1989, Ausgaben pro Jahr: 2, Social Indicators Information Service No. 51 (2014). Starting Point and Frequency: Year: 1989, Issues per Year: 2, Social Indicators Information Service, Informationsdienst Soziale Indikatoren

Es wird aktuell immer wieder darauf hingewiesen, dass dem Bereich psychische Erkrankungen eine steigende Bedeutung als Ursache für frühzeitiges Ausscheiden aus dem Arbeitsleben zukommt. Das Bundesministerium für Arbeit, Soziales und Konsumentenschutz entschloss sich daher 2012, das Thema psychische Erkrankungen und Invalidität in einem breit aufgesetzten Prozess unter Einbeziehung möglichst aller relevanten Stakeholder einer generellen Problemaufbereitung zuzuführen. In ExpertInnenrunden zu den Feldern Prävention und Rehabilitation bei psychischen Erkrankungen, Psychische Erkrankungen in der Arbeitswelt sowie Psychische Erkrankungen und Pension wurden die relevanten Themen, Problembereiche und Handlungsfelder identifiziert und Weiterentwicklungs-bzw. Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten erarbeitet. Die vorliegende Publikation orientiert sich am Arbeitsprozess des Projekts "Invalidität im Wandel 2 - Psychische Erkrankungen und Invalidität". In Teil I wird zunächst der Status quo festgehalten, bezogen sowohl auf psychische Erkrankungen selbst (Klassifikation, Verbreitung, Stigmatisierung, volkswirtschaftliche Kosten und Gender-Dimension) als auch auf die aktuelle rechtliche Situation. Außerdem beleuchtet dieser Teil im Kapitel "Operative Praxis und Problemstellungen" das Thema psychische Erkrankungen in den Zusammenhängen Prävention, Rehabilitation, Arbeitswelt sowie Begutachtung und Pension. Das Ziel der zweiten Projektphase war die Erarbeitung möglichst konkreter Vorschläge als Empfehlungen an die Politik bzw. als Handlungsaufträge für bestimmte Institutionen. So werden in Teil II dieses Bandes sowohl die breite Palette von Handlungsfeldern und Problembereichen präsentiert, die von den ExpertInnen identifiziert wurden, als auch jene Empfehlungen, die als akkordiertes Ergebnis des Projekts vorliegen. Ein Überblick über Projektorganisation und -ablauf (Teil III) rundet die Publikation ab.

Weshalb gelingt es einigen Erwerbspersonen besser als andern, sich nach einer länger andauernden Arbeitsunfähigkeitsphase wieder in den Erwerbsprozess zu integrieren? In einem mehrjährigen Forschungsprojekt (2008-2012) wurde das komplexe Wechselspiel zwischen Individuen, sozialen, rechtlichen und gesellschaftlichen Kontextbedingungen und den beteiligten Betrieben und Institutionen analysiert. Vorschläge für Massnahmen zur Verhinderung der Desintegration runden die Studie ab. Das Projekt wurde vom schweizerischen Nationalfonds (SNF) unterstützt und gemeinsam vom Büro für arbeits- und sozialpolitische Studien BASS und der ZHAW – Zentrum für Sozialrecht durchgeführt.

We investigate the impacts of economic incentives on the duration and outcome of temporary disability insurance (TDI) spells. The analysis is based on a large quasi-experiment in Norway, with a complete overhaul of the TDI benefit system. Our findings show that the labor supply of TDI claimants responds to both the benefit-level and to the level of local labor demand. The estimated elasticity of the employment hazard with respect to the benefit-level is - 0.3. We also find that the level of TDI benefits significantly affects the transition rate to alternative social insurance programs such as permanent disability and unemployment.

This paper investigates whether education and working in a physically demand-ing job causally impact temporary work incapacity, i.e. sickness absence, andpermanent work incapacity, i.e. the inflow to disability via sickness absence.Our contribution is to allow endogeneity of both education and occupation byestimating a quasi-maximum-likelihood discrete factor model. Data on sicknessabsence and disability spells for the population of older workers come from theDanish administrative registers for 1998-2002. We generally find an independent role of both education and occupation on temporary work incapacity only. Having at least primary education reduces women's (men's) probability of temporary work incapacity by 16% (38%) while working in a physically demanding job increases it by 37% (26%). On the other hand, conditional on sickness absence, the effects of education and occupation on permanent work incapacity are generally insignificant.

Background Hearing difficulties constitute the most common cause of disability globally. Yet, studies on people with hearing difficulties regarding socio-economic status (SES), work, long-term unemployment, sickness absence, and disability pension are scarce. The aim of the present study was to investigate the main income sources of men and women of working ages with and without self-reported hearing difficulties and associations with gender, age, SES, type of living area, and country of birth. Methods A cross-sectional population-based study, using information on self-reported hearing difficulties and SES of 19 045 subjects aged 20–64 years participating in Statistics Sweden’s annual Living Conditions Surveys in any of the years 2004 through 2008. The information was linked to a nationwide database containing data on demographics and income sources. Odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated, using binary logistic regression analysis. Results Hearing difficulties increased with age and were more common in men (age-adjusted OR: 1.42 (95% CI: 1.30-1.56)) with an overall prevalence of 13.1% in men and 9.8% in women. Using working men as reference, the OR of having hearing difficulties was 1.23 (0.94-1.60) in men with unemployment benefits and 1.36 (1.13-1.65) in men with sickness benefits or disability pension, when adjusting for age and SES. The corresponding figures in women were 1.59 (1.17-2.16) and 1.73 (1.46-2.06). The OR of having sickness benefits or disability pension in subjects with hearing difficulties was 1.36 (1.12-1.64) in men and 1.70 (1.43-2.01) in women, when adjusting for age and SES and using men and women with no hearing difficulties as reference. Conclusions Hearing difficulties were more prevalent in men. After adjustment with age and SES as well as with type of living area and country of birth, a significant association with unemployment benefits was found only in women, and the associations with long-term sickness absence and disability pension tended to be stronger in women.

In 1996, statutory sick pay was reduced for private sector workers in Germany. Using the empirical observation that trade union members are dismissed less often than non-members, we construct a model to predict how absence behaviour will respond to the sick pay reform. We show that union members may have stronger incentives to be absent and to react to the cut in sick pay. In the empirical investigation, we find a positive relationship between trade union membership and absence due to sickness and observe more pronounced reactions to the cut in sick pay among union members than among non-members. These findings suggest that more flexibility in the use of paid absence due to sickness constitutes a private gain from trade union membership.

Using a matched insurant-general practitioner panel data set, we estimated the effect of a general health-screening program on individuals' health status and health care cost. To account for selection into treatment, we used regional variations in the intensity of exposure to supply-determined screening recommendations as an instrumental variable. We found that screening participation substantially increased inpatient and outpatient health care costs for up to two years after treatment. In the medium term, we found cost savings in the outpatient sector, whereas in the long run, no statistically significant effects of screening on either health care cost component could be discerned. In summary, screening participation increases health care costs. Since we did not find any statistically significant effect of screening participation on insurants' health status at any point in time, we do not recommend a general health-screening program. However, given that we found some evidence for cost-saving potentials for the sub-sample of younger insurants, we suggest more targeted screening programs.

We evaluate the effects of a reduction in the generosity of disability benefits in Spain that occurred in 2008. The main objective of the reform was to reduce the amount of benefits for individuals that do not have a long contributory history as the reform introduced a disincentive to apply to the system if the individual does not have 35 years of effective contributions. Theoretical insights are gained with a life-cycle model with heterogeneous disabled workers. The model's simulations predict a reduction in the incentives to apply for disability benefits for partially disabled individuals who do not reach the 35 years of contributions. Diff-in-diff estimates are consistent with our model predictions.

This study examines how workplace size relates to transitions in- and out-of sickness absence. Overall, the study finds important differences in the long-term sickness absence behavior of individuals working in small and large workplaces. In particular, the results show that the sickness spells are of higher incidence, but somewhat shorter duration in large workplaces. However, the results also show that the strength of these relationships varies across different labor market groups. The analysis is based on rich administrative data from Sweden over the period 1994-2008.

In most countries, employers are financially responsible for sick pay during an initial period of a worker's absence spell, after which the public insurance system covers the bill. Based on a quasi-natural experiment in Norway, where pay liability was removed for pregnancy-related absences, we show that firms' absence costs significantly affect employees' absence behavior. However, by restricting pay liability to the initial period of the absence spell, firms are discouraged from letting long-term sick workers back into work, since they then face the financial risk associated with subsequent relapses. We show that this disincentive effect is statistically and economically significant.

Research on health-related work absenteeism focuses primarily on moral hazard issues but seldom discriminates between the types of illnesses that prompt workers to stay home or seek care. This paper focuses on chronic migraine, a common and acute illness that can prove to be relatively debilitating. Our analysis is based upon the absenteeism of workers employed in a large Fortune-100 manufacturing firm in the United States. We model their daily transitions between work and absence spells between January 1996 up until December 1998. Only absences due to migraine and depression, its main comorbidity, are taken into account. Our results show that there is considerable correlation between the different states we consider. In addition, workers who are covered by the Blue Preferred Provided Organization tend to have shorter employment spells but also shorter migraine spells.

This paper interprets accidents occurring on the way to and from work as negative health shocks to identify the causal effect of health on labor market outcomes. We argue that in our sample of exactly matched treated and control workers, these health shocks are quasi-randomly assigned. A fixed-effects difference-in-differences approach estimates a negative and persistent effect on subsequent employment and income. After initial periods with a higher incidence of sick leave, treated workers are more likely unemployed, and a growing share of them leaves the labor market via disability retirement. Those treated workers, who manage to stay in employment, incur persistent income losses. The effects are stronger for sub-groups of workers who are typically less attached to the labor market.

Seit dem Jahr 2001 führt das BBRZ (Berufliches Bildungs- und Rehabilitationszentrum) Projekte zur Beratung von ArbeitnehmerInnen mit gesundheitlichen Problemen durch. Das Ziel dieser Beratung ist es, bei gesundheitlichen Problemen, die die Arbeitsfähigkeit gefährden, möglichst früh einzugreifen, um entweder den Arbeitsplatz zu erhalten oder eine dem Gesundheitszustand entsprechende neue Tätigkeit zu erreichen. Das unabhängige Sozialforschungsinstitut abif (www.abif.at) übernahm mit Anfang des Jahres 2009 die Evaluierung des Beratungszeitraumes 2005 bis Juli 2009. In diesen Zeitraum fallen die Projekte 'Horizonte 40+' (2005-2007), 'Roomy Workspace' (2005-2007), 'Service Arbeit und Gesundheit 40+' (2005-2007) und das derzeit laufende Projekt 'Service Arbeit und Gesundheit (SAG) - Beratungsstelle für berufliche Prävention' (seit Juli 2007). Insgesamt wurden über 1.000 Personen im Rahmen der Projekte beraten. In der Evaluierungsstudie werden Wirkungen, Wirkungsweisen und der Nutzen der Beratung erhoben. Die Studie baut auf einem vierphasigen Forschungsdesign auf. Im ersten Schritt wurden vier Case ManagerInnen des SAG-Teams interviewt. Auf der Basis dieser ersten Erhebung wurde eine repräsentative Umfrage mit 259 ehemaligen und aktuellen KlientInnen durchgeführt. Um die Ergebnisse zu vertiefen, wurden fünf Beratungsfälle von KlientInnen und fünf beratene Unternehmen analysiert. Abschließend wurde in einer fiskalischen Analyse eine Amortisationsrechnung durchgeführt.

This paper engages in an interdisciplinary survey of the current state of knowledge related to the theory, determinants and consequences of occupational safety and health (OSH). First, it synthesizes the available theoretical frameworks used by economists and psychologists to understand the issues related to the optimal provision of OSH in the labour market. Second, it reviews the academic literature investigating the correlates of a comprehensive set of OSH indicators, which portray the state of OSH infrastructure (social security expenditure, prevention, regulations), inputs (chemical and physical agents, ergonomics, working time, violence) and outcomes (injuries, illnesses, absenteeism, job satisfaction) within workplaces. Third, it explores the implications of the lack of OSH in terms of the economic and social costs that are entailed. Finally, the survey identifies areas of future research interests and suggests priorities for policy initiatives that can improve the health and safety of workers.

"Die vorliegende Studie bietet einen Überblick über den Forschungsstand zu Sicherheit und Gesundheitsschutz am Arbeitsplatz (occupational safety and health, OSH) in Deutschland und dient damit als Grundlage für den deutschen Beitrag zum EU Koordinationsprojekt "An inquiry into health and safety at work: a European Union perspective". Nach einer Beschreibung der in Deutschland für OSH verantwortlichen Institutionen präsentiert die Studie das in Deutschland erreichte Arbeitsschutzniveau durch einschlägige Indikatoren - wie krankheitsbedingten Fehlzeiten, Berufsunfällen und -krankheiten, Erwerbsunfähigkeitsrenten, Arbeitsbedingungen und OSHStrategien. Der Hauptbeitrag dieser Studie liegt in der Darstellung des aktuellen ökonomischen Forschungsstandes zu Determinanten von OSH-Indikatoren sowie der verwendeten und verwendbaren Datenquellen für Deutschland. Ziel ist, die der Literatur inhärenten Fragestellungen, Methoden, Datengrundlagen und Ergebnisse aufzuzeigen und verbleibende Forschungslücken im Bereich Gesundheit und Arbeit zu identifizieren." (Autorenreferat) "In this paper, the current knowledge and issues regarding the economic impact of health at work in Germany is reviewed as a part of the EU project "An inquiry into health and safety at work: a European Union perspective" (acronym: HEALTHat-WORK). After a description of the German institutional framework for occupational safety and health (OSH), it presents indicators of health and safety at work - such as sickness absences, occupational accidents and diseases, disability rents, working conditions, and OSH policy. The paper’s major contribution is a review of economic research on the determinants of OSH indicators in Germany, and a review of the data sets that have been or may be used. The aim is to identify the main issues addressed in the literature, the approaches adopted, the data analyzed, and the research gaps that still exist with respect to analyzing health at work in Germany." (author's abstract)

The interdependence of labor market conditions and the demand for health care has been addressed by several theoretical and empirical analyses. We contribute to the debate by empirically examining the effect of a decrease in self-perceived job security on health care utilization. That is, employees at risk of losing their job might postpone or even try not to use non-acute rehab measures in order to reduce their individual risk of being laid off by avoiding absenteeism and signaling good health. We use individual-level data from the German Socioeconomic Panel for the years 2003, 2004, and 2006. The identification strategy rests on an instrumental variable approach where the county unemployment rate and its relative change compared to the previous year serve as instruments for the employees' self-assessed risk of losing their jobs. Contrary to the hypothesis, we have evidence for job insecurity increasing the demand for medical rehab. This finding is robust to various model variants.

We analyse the role of health in determining the difference between desired and actual hours of work in a sample of German men using the Socio-Economic Panel Data for years 1996-2007. The effects of both self-assessed health and legal disability status are examined. About 60% of employees report working more than they would wish with the mean difference of -3.9 hours/week. We estimate static and dynamic model specifications allowing for autoregressive nature of the dependent variable and testing for the role of lagged health status. Important differences are found between east and west German Länder. In the west we find statistically significant role of general health measures in determining the disequilibrium. Employees in bad health want to work on average by about 0.4 hour/week less according to the static specification, and by about 1 hour/week less if dynamics of health and of the disequilibrium are taken into account. This is respectively 10% and 25% of the mean difference. We find no effects of legal disability status on the disequilibrium which we interpret as a reflection of stronger legal position of disabled employees. In both east and west we find significant state dependence in the hours disequilibrium.

This paper provides a life-cycle framework for weighing up the insurance value of disability benefi ts against the incentive cost. Within this framework, we estimate the life-cycle risks that individuals face in the US, as well as the parameters governing the disability insurance program, using indirect inference and longitudinal data on consumption, disability status, disability insurance receipt, and wages. We use our estimates to characterize the effectiveness of the disability insurance program and to consider the e ffect on welfare and behaviour of policy reform. High levels of false rejections associated with the screening process imply welfare increases as the program becomes less strict, despite the worsening incentives that this implies. Incentives for false applications are reduced by reducing generosity and increasing reassessments and these improve welfare, despite the worse insurance implied.

Berufs- bzw. Erwerbsunfähigkeit durch eine psychiatrische Krankheit nimmt an Häufigkeit immer mehr zu. Dies stellt zum einen für die Betroffenen selbst, aber auch für die Allgemeinheit durch Wegfall von Arbeitsleistung und Rentenzahlungen, ein großes Problem dar. Bislang ist nur wenig über die Ätiologie dieser Entwicklung bekannt. Somit besteht Bedarf an Grundlagenerforschung. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, den soziodemographischen Hintergrund der Betroffenen zu untersuchen, sowie das Gewicht der vorherrschenden psychiatrischen Diagnosen zu ermitteln. Methoden Es wurden 94 Berufsunfähigkeitsgutachten aus dem Zeitraum Ende 1999 bis Mitte 2006 aus dem Archiv der forensischen Abteilung der Universitätsklinik Erlangen für die Untersuchung herangezogen. Aus diesen wurden Daten über psychiatrische Diagnosen, den Grad der BU/MdE sowie über Geschlecht, Alter, Familienstand, Bildung, Beruf, Berufsstand und Intelligenzquotient entnommen. Die Diagnosegruppe Neurotische, Belastungs- und Somatoforme Störungen wurde mit den restlichen Diagnosegruppen verglichen, sowie beide Gruppen mit der Normalbevölkerung. In der statistischen Auswertung fanden zur Signifikanzprüfung der Chi-Quadrat-, Fisher-Exact-, und der Student-T-Test Anwendung. Ergebnisse und Beobachtungen Neurotische Belastungs- und Somatoforme Störungen (ICD10: F40-48) waren im untersuchten Kollektiv mit Abstand am häufigsten vertreten. Es folgten Affektive Störungen, Persönlichkeits- und Verhaltensstörungen, Schizotype und Wahnhafte Störungen, Organische, einschließlich Symptomatischer Psychischer Störungen und Psychische und Verhaltensstörungen durch psychotrope Substanzen. Weibliche Begutachtete waren im Gegensatz zu Männern signifikant häufiger in Berufen tätig, welche keine Ausbildung erfordern. Der Anteil an Beamten war unter den Begutachteten größer als der in der Normalbevölkerung. Der Anteil Verheirateter und Geschiedener war bei den Begutachteten höher als jener in der Normalbevölkerung. Patienten der Diagnosegruppe F40-48 waren noch häufiger geschieden als Patienten aus anderen Diagnosegruppen und als die Normalbevölkerung. Begutachtete wiesen niedrigere Schulabschlüsse auf als die Schulabgänger des Jahres 2005/06 in Bayern. Dies galt insbesondere für die Diagnosegruppe F40-48. Des Weiteren waren Begutachtete häufiger arbeitslos, verglichen mit der Normalbevölkerung. Begutachtete mit einer Diagnose aus F40-48 waren häufiger in einem Arbeitsverhältnis als solche mit einer anderen Hauptdiagnose (p=0,002). Das Alter der Patienten mit einer Hauptdiagnose aus F40-48 war signifikant (p=0,001) höher als bei Patienten mit anderen psychiatrischen Hauptdiagnosen. Der Grad der Minderung der Erwerbsfähigkeit war bei diesen Patienten signifikant (p=0.039) geringer als bei anderen Diagnosegruppen, beim Grad der Berufsunfähigkeit gab es keine signifikanten Unterschiede zwischen der Diagnosegruppe F40-48 und den Diagnosegruppen ohne F40-48. Der Intelligenzquotient schien in unserem Kollektiv keinen Einfluss auf die Entwicklung einer Berufsunfähigkeit zu haben. Als statistischer Trend war zu erkennen, dass der Anteil weiblicher Patienten mit Diagnosen aus dem Formenkreis F40-48 größer zu sein scheint. 44 Prozent der Begutachteten wiesen neben der zur Frühberentung führenden Hauptdiagnose psychiatrische Nebendiagnosen auf. Bemerkenswert war eine Komorbidität der beiden häufigsten Hauptdiagnosen „Neurotische Belastungs- und Somatoforme Störungen“ und „Affektive Störungen“. Praktische Schlussfolgerungen Will man eine weitere Zunahme an Frühberentungen aufgrund psychiatrischer Erkrankungen verhindern, sind frühzeitige Präventionsmaßnahmen notwendig. Hierzu ist es erforderlich die Risikopersonen, welche am meisten durch eine Frühberentung bedroht sind, zu identifizieren. Als Risikofaktoren konnten wir niedrigeren Bildungsstand, Arbeitslosigkeit, Scheidung, Beamtenstatus und bei Frauen Berufe ohne Ausbildung identifizieren. Neurotische-, Belastungs- und Somatoforme Störungen (F40-48) stellen einen erheblichen prädiktiven Faktor für eine spätere Berufsunfähigkeit dar. Es zeigte sich, dass in dieser Patientengruppe (F40-48) häufiger Frauen und Ältere vertreten sind, welche zum Begutachtungszeitpunkt öfter geschieden sind, noch häufiger in einem Arbeitsverhältnis stehen, eine geringere Bildung und eine geringere Minderung der Erwerbsfähigkeit aufweisen als Patienten aus anderen Diagnosegruppen und als die Normalbevölkerung. Screeningprogramme und Maßnahmen zur Primärprävention sollten sich an diesen Ergebnissen orientieren. Background and purposes Occupational incapacity/ Invalidity caused by a psychiatric disease is getting more frequent. This is representing a large problem, for both the agrieved party and for the whole community, by omission of working capacity and by pension payment. So far less is known about the ethiology of this development. Hence there is need for basic research. To analyse the sociodemograhical background of the affected people and to determine the importance of the dominating psychiatric diseases is the purpose of this study. Methods 94 expert opinions of occupational incapacity from the forensic department of the university hospital of Erlangen regarding the years 1999 to 2006 have been analysed. Data regarding kind of psychiatric disease, degree of occupational incapacity/ invalidity, as well as data regarding gender, age, martial status, profession, the working status and intelligence quotient have been aquired. The subdivision of neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform disorders have been compared to the remaining groups of disorders (regarding icd 10) as well as to the average population. For the testing of statistical significance the chi-square-, fisher-exact- and student-T-test have been used. Results and conclusions Neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform disorders (ICD10: F40-48) showed to be the far most frequent disorders among the examined collective, followed by affektive disorders, disorders of personality and behaviour in adult persons, schizotypal and delusional disorders, organic, including symptomatic, mental disorders and mental and behavioural disorders due to use of psychoactive substances. Examined females, compared to males, were significantly more often persuing a profession, which does not require qualification. Among the examined the amount of clerks has been larger than among the average population. Among the examined the amount of married and divorced people has been larger than among the average population. Patients suffering from a disorder from F40-48 have been almost more often been divorced than patients suffering from other groups of diseases and than the average population. The examined displayed lower educational status than school-leavers in 2005/06 in Bavaria. In particular the foresaid counted for patients suffering from a disorder from F40-48. Furthermore the examined have been unemployed more often, compared to the average population. The examined suffering from a disorder from F40-48 have been more often in a working condition compared to those suffering from another main-diagnosis (p=0,002). Patients with main-diagnosis from F40-48 have been significantly older (P=0,001) compared to those suffering from another main-diagnosis. The degree of occupational incapacity among these patients has been significantly lower (p=0.039) compared to those suffering from another main-diagnosis. Comparing the degree of lowering of capacity to work showed no significant differences between the both subgroups. The intelligence quotient did not seem to affect the development of occupational incapacity. As a statistical trend we saw a larger amount of female patients suffering from a disorder from F40-48. 44 percent of the examined showed a psychiatric side-diagnoses beside the main-diagnosis leading to occupational incapacity. A comorbidity regarding the most frequent main-diagnoses “neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform disorders” and “affective disorders” was remarkable. Practical implications To prevent a further increase of early retirements caused by a psychiatric disorder early prevention measures are essential. Concerning this it is necessary to identify the persons of high risk for early retirement. As risk factors we could identify low educational status, unemployment, divorce, being a clerk, as well as professions that do not require education among females. Neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform disorders (F40-48) are to be considered to be strong predictive factors for a later occupational incapacity. We could show that a larger amount of females and older persons is represented in this group of patients (F40-48) and that these patients are more often divorced, more often employed, more often showing a lower educational status and are showing a lower degree of lowering of working capacity than patients suffering from other groups of diseases as well as compared to the average population. Screening and prevention measures should be orientated towards these findings.

For policy reforms to increase a society's welfare, reliable information on people's prefer-ences and expectations is crucial. Representative opinion polls, often involving simplified questions about the complex topics under debate, are an important source of information for both policy-makers and the public. Do people's answers to these poll questions reliably reflect their preferences and expectations, or does fundamental, undiscriminating opposition to reforms distort them? We address this question in the context of a recent German pension reform which raised the statutory retirement age by two years to age 67. By introducing an experiment into a representative household survey, we are able to disentangle expectations of work ability at retirement and fundamental opposition. Our results show that expected work ability declines substantially with increasing target age (63, 65, or 67 years). Answers from West German respondents reflect their current life situation as well as individual health and other risk factors. However, a fundamental opposition to reforms of the welfare state appears to strongly affect responses from East German households.

Based on comprehensive administrative register data from Norway, we examine the determinants of sickness absence behavior; in terms of employee characteristics workplace characteristics, panel doctor characteristics, and economic conditions. The analysis is based on a novel concept of a worker's steady state sickness absence propensity, computed from a multivariate hazard rate model designed to predict the incidence and the duration of sickness absence for all workers. Key conclusions are i) that most of the cross-sectional variation in absenteeism is caused by genuine employee heterogeneity; ii) that the identity of a person's panel doctor has a significant impact on absence propensity; iii) that sickness absence insurance is frequently certified for reasons other than sickness; and iv) that the recovery rate rises enormously just prior to the exhaustion of sickness insurance benefits.

Am 1. Januar 1997 trat eine Krankengeldkürzung von 80 auf 70 Prozent des Bruttoeinkommens in Kraft. Ab der siebten Woche erhalten gesetzlich Versicherte Krankengeld, sie gelten als langzeitkrank. Berechnungen auf Basis des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP) zeigen, dass durch diese Maßnahme innerhalb von zehn Jahren rund fünf Milliarden Euro von den Langzeitkranken zugunsten der übrigen Versicherten umverteilt wurden. Dies trägt - wie von der Politik gewünscht - dazu bei, die Beitragssätze der gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung stabil zu halten, wenngleich der Effekt mit zuletzt 0,04 Beitragspunkten marginal ist. Durch die Krankengeldkürzung verlieren Langzeitkranke durchschnittlich 250 Euro pro Krankheitsepisode. Die Kürzung hat ursächlich nicht dazu geführt, dass die Zahl der Langzeitkrankheitsfälle von 1993 bis 2006 von 2,3 auf 1,4 Millionen gesunken ist.

Sick leave payments represent a significant portion of public health expenditures and labor costs. Reductions in replacement levels are a commonly used instrument to tackle moral hazard and to increase the efficiency of the health insurance market. In Germany's Statutory Health Insurance (SHI) system, the replacement level for periods of sickness of up to six weeks was reduced from 100 percent to 80 percent of an employee's gross wage at the end of 1996. At the same time, the replacement level for individuals absent for a long-term period, i.e., from the seventh week onwards, was reduced from 80 to 70 percent. We show theoretically that the net reform effects on long-term absenteeism can be disentangled into a direct and an indirect effect. Using SOEP data, a natural control group, and two different treatment groups, we estimate the net and the direct effect on the incidence and duration of long-term absenteeism by difference-in-differences. Our findings suggest that, on population average, the reforms have not affected long-term absenteeism significantly, which is in accordance with our theoretical predictions, assuming that employees on long-term sick leave are seriously sick. However, we find some heterogeneity in the effects and a small but significant decrease in the duration of long-term absenteeism for the poor and middle-aged full-time employed persons. All in all, moral hazard and presenteeism seem to be less of an issue in the right tail of the sickness spell distribution. Finally, our calculations suggest that from 1997 to 2006, around five billion euros were redistributed from persons on long-term sick leave to the SHI insurance pool.

This paper analyzes the effect of severity of disability on labour force participation by using a self-reported work limitation scale. A dynamic labour force participation model is used to capture the feedback effect of past participation on current participation. The results suggest that net of persistence and unobserved heterogeneity, differences in severity levels explain a significant portion of the variance in the participation rates among disabled individuals. Moreover, the disability is shown to have longer lasting adverse effects on female participation and work limited women will be more likely to benefit from the work requirements imposed on Disability Support Pension recipients.

We evaluate the effects of a reduction in sick pay from 100 to 80% of the wage. Unlike previous literature, apart from absence from work, we also consider effects on doctor/hospital visits and subjective health indicators. We also add to the literature by estimating both switch-on and switch-off effects, because the reform was repealed two years later. We find a two-day reduction in the number of days of absence. Quantile regression reveals higher point estimates (both in absolute and relative terms) at higher quantiles, meaning that the reform predominantly reduced long durations of absence. In terms of health, the reform reduced the average number of days spent in hospital by almost half a day, but we cannot find robust evidence for negative effects on health outcomes or perceived liquidity constraints.

This study investigates the role of stratification of health and income in the social cost of healthrelated early retirement, as evidenced in the German Socio-economic Panel (GSOEP). We interpret early retirement as a mechanism to limit work-related declines in health that allows poorer and less healthy workers to maximize the total discounted value of annuities received from Germany's pay-as-you-go pension system. Investments in new medical technology and better access to existing health services may help to curb the need for early retirement and thus improve efficiency, especially amid population ageing. To value the potential gains, we calibrate an intertemporal model based on ex post predictions from stratified duration regressions for individual retirement timing. We conclude that eliminating the correlation between income and health decline would delay the average age of retirement by approximately half a year, while keeping all workers in the highest of five categories of self assessed health would yield a further delay of up to three years. Had this scenario been realized during our 1992?2005 sample period, we estimate the social costs of early retirement would have been more than 20 percent lower, even without counting the direct social benefits from better health.

Seit Anfang 2008 ist auf Gesetzesstufe formuliert, unter welchen Bedingungen eine Erwerbsunfähigkeit versicherungsrelevant ist, indem Art. 7 des Bundesgesetzes über den Allgemeinen Teil des Sozialversicherungsrechts (ATSG) um folgenden Absatz ergänzt worden ist: Für die Beurteilung des Vorliegens einer Erwerbsunfähigkeit sind ausschliesslich die Folgen der gesundheitlichen Beeinträchtigung zu berücksichtigen. Eine Erwerbsunfähigkeit liegt zudem nur vor, wenn sie aus objektiver Sicht nicht überwindbar ist.

This study charts the differences between the sickness absence of immigrants and Swedes during a period when a flourishing labour market in the beginning of the 1990s turned into a tense and problematic one. We consider not only human capital factors for various immigrant groups and natives, but also workplace conditions and macro level factors. Using register based information on 100,000 individuals for the period 1992-2001, we find large differences in sickness absence between natives and several immigrant groups and that these differences persist after controlling for human capital, workplace factors, and macro economic factors.

There are currently about 300,000 individuals receiving disability pension in Norway. A key question regarding the evolvement of the number of disabled workers is if the growth is related to the growth in the generosity of the pension system. This paper presents statistics on disability pensioners 1992-2001 and argues measurements of the generosity of the system has to be done with caution for several reasons. There is no clear link from the disablement process to the inflow of new disability pensioners. Further, I show that the ratio of disability pension to labor income vary with different definitions of the pension and income level.