The Norwegian Minister of Social Affaires, Ingjerd Schou´s intervention in the EUGalwaymeeting, Friday 17 ^th> of January 2004.

Fellow Ministers and Colleagues,

Norway highly appreciates being invited to this informal meeting of Employment and Social Affairs Ministers, hosted by the Irish Presidency. We are also pleased that Norway through the EEA-Agreement participates in several EU-Programmes within the field of the Social dimension.

Together with the EU-countries, Norway faces new challenges to our welfare system. Let me start by sharing with you some reflections on the fact that we are gathered here in Ireland. In the 19 ^th> century both Norway and Ireland were among the poorest nations of Europe.

Today we are in a much more favourable situation. Norway has an overall high working rate, for both women and men. However, a large number of persons of working age are temporarily or permanently out of work because of disability, medical or vocational rehabilitation, early retirement or sickness. In a future with expected lack of labour, Norway has a special challenge in taking better care of our potential work force.

The Government has focused on a comprehensive strategy focusing on a family policy that allows both women and men to have the possibility of combining work and care, a more targeted unemployment assistance system to provide incentives for active job search, stronger focus on helping vocational disabled back to work and (last but not least) a pension system ensuring high and increasing employment amongst the elderly. This comprehensive strategy contains a broad range of different measures:

Stronger responsibilities for the employers to follow up people being long term sick urging the employers to find alternative type of work within the firm.

We also want to align the policy towards vocational disabled to the policy towards ordinary unemployed. This is done through focus on activation and limited period on public support. It is also important to start the vocational rehabilitation process as clearly as possible. We will move the responsibility for the review process regarding the need of vocational rehabilitation from the National Insurance Authorities to the Public Employment Service

I have with great interest noticed the presentation of my UK and Dutch colleagues concerning the challenges of disability pension. The Norwegian Government has as a first response to the same challenge, made some amendments to our system. From the first of January this year long term sick persons with potential work capacity in the future will only be eligible to a temporary disability benefit (one to four years) in stead of claming permanent disability pension.

This may increase the possibility to get more people on disability benefit back into work later. The opportunity to have part time work and part time benefit may be a possibility for many.

As part of this policy, the Government and the social partners have signed an agreement of corporation with the labour force and the social partners to prevent sickness leave, get people from disability to work and to prolong the active working life.

The Agreement is built upon the idea that the main arena for creating an inclusive labour marked is the dialogue and cooperation between employers and labour.

The first evaluation of the agreement has already been carried out, and we have to admit that the results from this halfway evaluation are not as good as we had hoped or expected. The sickness rate is still increasing and the number of people leaving work on disability or other early retirement benefits also rises. Nevertheless, the Government and the social partners have high expectations that the Agreement on inclusive workplaces will give results. To maintain our welfare society, we are dependent to succeed in these matters as well as in the family policy and gender equality policy.

In Norway there is a close link between family policy and gender equality policy. Due to theses policies, Norway has achieved a relatively high fertility, and the employment rates for mothers with small children are actually one of the highest in Europe.

In 1970 Norway was among the countries with the highest percentage of housewives.

In 2001, employment rates for mothers with children not yet three years of age are 74.4% and 84 % for mothers with children aged 3-6 years. About half of working women have a part-time job. We think that this high employment rate among women is due to our family benefits which reconcile family and work. We still see that also men can take care of small children. There is also a challenge to the employers to organise work in such a way that employees with reduces working hours or on maternity leave have the same job security as others.

In this field we are making an effort to reach one of the main targets for my Government in the social dimension field, namely to focus on the user.

Thank you Chair