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In addition, most employed individuals have complementary
occupational sickness insurance. The parties in the labour market
reach agreements on collectively negotiated occupational sickness
insurance, and in practice, they are compulsory and universal. Around
90 per cent of all employed individuals in Sweden are covered by
an occupational insurance as it is mandatory for everyone employed
at a work place where there is a collective agreement (independent
of individual membership in a labour union). There are four major
agreements in the Swedish labour market covering privately
employed white-collar workers, privately employed blue-collar
workers, central government employees and staff employed by
municipalities and county councils. The occupational sickness
insurance complements the public insurance in two ways. It raises
the compensation level (in general to 90 per cent of the income
during sickness benefit and 79 per cent during disability pension and
it compensates for income above the ceiling but to varying degrees.
The public sickness insurance in Sweden has gone through a number
of changes over the last decades decreasing the generosity of the
system; whether or not this has had any implications for the
institutional structure of the system as a whole is still an open
question. Accordingly, it remains unknown if and to what degree
the collectively negotiated insurance fills the insurance gap created
by a less inclusive public insurance.
Objectives
The purpose of the report is to elucidate the interaction between
the public and the occupational sickness insurance and study the
total income protection during periods of illness. Of main interest
are differences in income protection between groups in society and
income levels within these groups, and changes in these aspects over
time.
Methods
To fulfil these objectives, an empirical material study consisting
of laws covering the public insurance and agreements covering
occupational insurance have been compiled, covering the years 1982–
2003. The material covers monthly changes in the replacement rates
and the ceilings within the insurance plans. As replacement rate
changes depend on how long the sick spell is, the empirical material