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9206
Harder times for long-term unemployed
statistikk
2003-10-08T10:00:00.000Z
Income and consumption;Social conditions, welfare and crime;Immigration and immigrants
en
inntind, Households' income, particular groups, income distribution, household income, low-income groups (for example single parents, long-term sick, supplementary benefit recipients), poor, median income, low-income limits, EU scale, OECD scaleIncome and wealth, Living conditions , Income and consumption, Income and consumption, Social conditions, welfare and crime, Immigration and immigrants
false

Households' income, particular groups, 1996-2001

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Harder times for long-term unemployed

The long-time unemployed have experienced a worsening of their financial situation in recent years. Persons in households where the main income earner is long-term unemployed are heavily over-represented among those with low income, and this number has increased. The long-time unemployed more often than before are in receipt of means-tested benefits such as dwelling support and social assistance.

In general persons in the low-income group have a weak attachment to the labour force. Among households where the main income earner was long-term unemployed 39 per cent had an income below the annual low-income threshold in 2001 (EU definition of low income), up from 35 per cent in 1996. A similar trend can be found even for the other low-income definition ( OECD ). There has furthermore been an increase in the percentage of long-term unemployed that are receivers of supplementary benefits. In 1996 10 per cent of all persons in household where the main income earner was long-term unemployed were in receipt of dwelling support. In 2001 the number had increased to 18 per cent. For those who receive both dwelling support and social assistance the number increased from 9 per cent to 14 per cent between 1996 and 2001.

Young singles and receivers of social assistance

These two groups are are over-represented in the low-income group and the lack of a strong attachment to the labour market plays an important role in these cases as well. Among young single non-students under 35 years of age almost one out of every four (23 per cent) had a weak attachment to the work force in 2001, i.e. they had an income from work that was less than the minimum state pension to single pensioners - NOK 90,747 in 2001 - an increase from 19 per cent in 1996. This figure can be compared to the total population in the age group 25-65 years, where only 12 per cent had no economically actives in the household.

Receivers of social assistance are the ones with a very high proportion of job-less households. Roughly 67 per cent of all persons in households that were in receipt of social assistance had no economically actives in the household in 2001, an increase from 63 per cent in 1996. There has also been an increase in the number of workless households among the couples with children at the bottom of the income distribution. The percentage of workless households in the "poorest" tenth of all couples with children increased from 31 per cent in 1996 to 36 per cent in 2001.

The opposite trend can be observed for single parents. For this group the number of jobless households decreased from 34 per cent in 1996 to 30 per cent in 2001. A similar trend towards a stronger work attachment in recent years can to some extent even be observed for the immigrant population.

Norway compared to the rest of Europe

There are many conceptual and definitional problems connected to the comparisons of low-income incidence and economic well-being in different countries. One such problem is the economic value of public services, for instance targeted at children or the elderly. These services may have a substantial impact on the well-being of the population, but the size of such public goods vary to a large extent among countries in Europe. The value of public services is not included in the household income concept. Data from Eurostat nevertheless indicate that the incidence of low-income in Norway is among the lowest in Europe. In 2000 the lowest percentage of annual low-income was found in the Netherlands where 10 per cent of the population belonged to the low-income group, closely followed by the Nordic countries and Germany where 11 per cent of the population belonged to this group . In the opposite end of the ranking we find the UK, Ireland, Greece and Portugal where roughly one out of every five had an income below the low-income threshold.

The data

The underlying data are the annual income distribution survey for households. These are sample surveys with a sample size ranging from roughly 10,000 households to 28,000 households for the years 1996 - 2001. A part of the survey consists of a panel of individuals, i.e. that the same individuals are followed for several years.

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