Employing people with disabilities benefits themselves, the whole society and the state
Specialists of the Social Security Fund of the Russian Federation and ILO experts exchanged experience. How are the social security systems in other countries functioning? What foreign experience can be useful in this country, and which Russian ways may be good for others? These and other issues have been discussed by experts of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and officials of the Social Security Fund of the Russian Federation at a workshop in Geneva.
Women earn one third less than men
“Today we are faced with several challenges that must be overcome, if the stability of social security systems is to be preserved,” Deputy Director-General of the ILO Sandra Polaski said, opening the international workshop organized by way of exchanging experience between the International Labour Organization and the Russian Social Security Fund. “What we see is a changing pattern of employment – in the advanced economies self-employment and other forms outside the traditional "employer-employee" relationship are gaining momentum. At the same time, in less developed countries grey economy is on the rise. This is a serious problem for social security systems, which receive less resources due to the fact that the de-facto employment is not duly registered.”
Manuela Tomei, Director of ILO’s Conditions of Work and Equality Department, points to the gender pay gap as yet another challenge faced by the social security systems. Thus, in Russia, the difference in the salary levels of men and women is one of the highest in the world – over 30 percent (that said, the gender pay gap in the United States is even higher – more that 35 percent). “At the same time, we have a lot to learn from our partners in the Russian Federation, where one of the most advanced programmes of maternal health has been developed, and new information and communications tools are being utilized,” said Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, secretary-general of the International Social Security Association (ISSA), citing the introduction of an electronic medical leave certificate as a particularly interesting example.
Target audiences of social protection
According to the ILO, up till now a significant number of people in the world – up to 73 percent – have no comprehensive system of social protection. “With the current global population of 7.3 billion, welfare payments account for 8.7 precent of global GDP,” said Anne Drouin, Chief of ILO's Public Finance, Actuarial and Statistics Services Branch. High-income countries spend up to 30% or more of their GDP on welfare payments, while in low-income countries, this figure is much smaller.
Currently about 66 percent of the global population aged between 15 and 64 years are engaged in labour activities of one sort or another. Working people receive in social benefits the amount equalling some 2.5 percent of the world GDP. These are paid maternity leaves, sick leaves, payments related to injury in the workplace, and others. About 28 percent of women worldwide are entitled to cash benefits for child care, and approximately 33 percent of workers have mandatory insurance coverage in case of injury.
According to the ILO experts, Russia ranks third among the countries with the highest level of social protection of the working population in case of industrial accidents and occupational diseases. (Only Japan and Poland have better records than Russia’s.) At the same time, Russia has the record high level of compensation to employees in cases of temporary disability, adds Mariko Ouchi, ILO’s social security specialists for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
Working is better than idling
Work-related disability and death remains one of the most serious problems in the whole world. The statistics claim that annually more than 2.3 million people lose their lives due to accidents at work. About 313 million workers a year become disabled as a result of work-related injuries, while another 160 million contract occupational diseases. According to specialists from the ILO and ISSA, the focus of modern occupational safety and health programmes is on prevention of occupational injuries.
“It is imperative that workers should be covered by occupational insurance programmes, and that there should be clear provisions assigning a very specific role to the employers in preventing the incidents of work-related injury, stressed Nancy Leppink, Chief of ILO's Labour Administration, Labour Inspection and Occupational Safety and Health Branch, as she cited the examples of preventive measures that have proven effective. Among these are special assessment of workplaces; control over working conditions and the state of equipment at the workplace; efforts to identify and study possible hazards at workplace with a view to reducing the risk of occupational diseases; periodic review and update of the list of occupational diseases; as well as increased contributions to social security funds.
“Hand-made”
The international and Russian experts have also discussed the issue of social rehabilitation and re-employment of persons with disabilities.
“As the actual practice has demonstrated, people with disabilities are especially successful when engaged in manual work,” said senior disability experts at the ILO Esteban Tromel. “These workers’ overall contribution to the economy is significant enough, ranging from 3 to 7 percent of GDP,” he added.
Many a government have recognized the need to take all possible measures to include the people with disabilities into the domain of labour relations. When working, these people feel that they are an active part of society – and this is good both for them, for the society, for the economy and for the employing companies, the ILO emphasizes.
The reality is different, however – in Russia, like in most countries of the world, people with disabilities are not sufficiently involved in labour relations, experts believe. “That said, you have a variety of programmes for people with disabilities – both for those who have never before been employed, and those whose disability is due to a work-related injury. This is a competent and effective approach,” Esteban Tromel says.
Yes to quotas, no to discrimination
Experts have came to agree that the provision of people with disabilities with a minimum subsistence allowance should not be the core concept of social security. An infinitely more important task would be to create the maximum opportunity for these people to get fully engaged in the life of society, and not just sit back watching year after year passing by and guessing what’s left of once lifetime.
“Today the best situation concerning the provision of employment to people with disabilities is in France and Germany,” says ILO’s Nancy Leppink. “These countries set aside specific job quotas at enterprises for the disabled people. Other countries, such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, have adopted and strictly enforce anti-discrimination legislation that protects the people with disabilities. The employers are under obligation to provide special working conditions for these people, including complete conversion, if necessary, of their workspace, offering them special work hours or part-time employment.
Summing up
“We need to improve the diagnosis of occupational diseases.”
“Having reviewed the in-depth and informative presentations by international experts, we have come to the conclusion that, by certain parameters, Russia is not behind; it meets many standard modern approaches to the provision of social security,” says deputy chairman of Russian Social Security Fund Alexei Rudenko. “In our country, we have a very good system of maternity protection; many parents, working part-time, remain with their children until they are eighteen months old. Maternity entitlements are also quite high.”
At the same time, our sky is not as bright as we may want it to be. Russia has a weak system of diagnosis of occupational diseases at early stages. We also recognize the importance of, and the need to enhance the capacity for the prevention of occupational injuries.
“It is important that we face up to the challenges before us both with our hearts and our minds. And what we certainly need to do is to focus on the problems in the field of occupational diseases,” deputy head of the ILO Sandra Polaski said.
Anna Dobryuha
Source
“Today we are faced with several challenges that must be overcome, if the stability of social security systems is to be preserved,” Deputy Director-General of the ILO Sandra Polaski said, opening the international workshop organized by way of exchanging experience between the International Labour Organization and the Russian Social Security Fund. “What we see is a changing pattern of employment – in the advanced economies self-employment and other forms outside the traditional "employer-employee" relationship are gaining momentum. At the same time, in less developed countries grey economy is on the rise. This is a serious problem for social security systems, which receive less resources due to the fact that the de-facto employment is not duly registered.”
Manuela Tomei, Director of ILO’s Conditions of Work and Equality Department, points to the gender pay gap as yet another challenge faced by the social security systems. Thus, in Russia, the difference in the salary levels of men and women is one of the highest in the world – over 30 percent (that said, the gender pay gap in the United States is even higher – more that 35 percent). “At the same time, we have a lot to learn from our partners in the Russian Federation, where one of the most advanced programmes of maternal health has been developed, and new information and communications tools are being utilized,” said Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, secretary-general of the International Social Security Association (ISSA), citing the introduction of an electronic medical leave certificate as a particularly interesting example.
Target audiences of social protection
According to the ILO, up till now a significant number of people in the world – up to 73 percent – have no comprehensive system of social protection. “With the current global population of 7.3 billion, welfare payments account for 8.7 precent of global GDP,” said Anne Drouin, Chief of ILO's Public Finance, Actuarial and Statistics Services Branch. High-income countries spend up to 30% or more of their GDP on welfare payments, while in low-income countries, this figure is much smaller.
Currently about 66 percent of the global population aged between 15 and 64 years are engaged in labour activities of one sort or another. Working people receive in social benefits the amount equalling some 2.5 percent of the world GDP. These are paid maternity leaves, sick leaves, payments related to injury in the workplace, and others. About 28 percent of women worldwide are entitled to cash benefits for child care, and approximately 33 percent of workers have mandatory insurance coverage in case of injury.
According to the ILO experts, Russia ranks third among the countries with the highest level of social protection of the working population in case of industrial accidents and occupational diseases. (Only Japan and Poland have better records than Russia’s.) At the same time, Russia has the record high level of compensation to employees in cases of temporary disability, adds Mariko Ouchi, ILO’s social security specialists for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
Working is better than idling
Work-related disability and death remains one of the most serious problems in the whole world. The statistics claim that annually more than 2.3 million people lose their lives due to accidents at work. About 313 million workers a year become disabled as a result of work-related injuries, while another 160 million contract occupational diseases. According to specialists from the ILO and ISSA, the focus of modern occupational safety and health programmes is on prevention of occupational injuries.
“It is imperative that workers should be covered by occupational insurance programmes, and that there should be clear provisions assigning a very specific role to the employers in preventing the incidents of work-related injury, stressed Nancy Leppink, Chief of ILO's Labour Administration, Labour Inspection and Occupational Safety and Health Branch, as she cited the examples of preventive measures that have proven effective. Among these are special assessment of workplaces; control over working conditions and the state of equipment at the workplace; efforts to identify and study possible hazards at workplace with a view to reducing the risk of occupational diseases; periodic review and update of the list of occupational diseases; as well as increased contributions to social security funds.
“Hand-made”
The international and Russian experts have also discussed the issue of social rehabilitation and re-employment of persons with disabilities.
“As the actual practice has demonstrated, people with disabilities are especially successful when engaged in manual work,” said senior disability experts at the ILO Esteban Tromel. “These workers’ overall contribution to the economy is significant enough, ranging from 3 to 7 percent of GDP,” he added.
Many a government have recognized the need to take all possible measures to include the people with disabilities into the domain of labour relations. When working, these people feel that they are an active part of society – and this is good both for them, for the society, for the economy and for the employing companies, the ILO emphasizes.
The reality is different, however – in Russia, like in most countries of the world, people with disabilities are not sufficiently involved in labour relations, experts believe. “That said, you have a variety of programmes for people with disabilities – both for those who have never before been employed, and those whose disability is due to a work-related injury. This is a competent and effective approach,” Esteban Tromel says.
Yes to quotas, no to discrimination
Experts have came to agree that the provision of people with disabilities with a minimum subsistence allowance should not be the core concept of social security. An infinitely more important task would be to create the maximum opportunity for these people to get fully engaged in the life of society, and not just sit back watching year after year passing by and guessing what’s left of once lifetime.
“Today the best situation concerning the provision of employment to people with disabilities is in France and Germany,” says ILO’s Nancy Leppink. “These countries set aside specific job quotas at enterprises for the disabled people. Other countries, such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, have adopted and strictly enforce anti-discrimination legislation that protects the people with disabilities. The employers are under obligation to provide special working conditions for these people, including complete conversion, if necessary, of their workspace, offering them special work hours or part-time employment.
Summing up
“We need to improve the diagnosis of occupational diseases.”
“Having reviewed the in-depth and informative presentations by international experts, we have come to the conclusion that, by certain parameters, Russia is not behind; it meets many standard modern approaches to the provision of social security,” says deputy chairman of Russian Social Security Fund Alexei Rudenko. “In our country, we have a very good system of maternity protection; many parents, working part-time, remain with their children until they are eighteen months old. Maternity entitlements are also quite high.”
At the same time, our sky is not as bright as we may want it to be. Russia has a weak system of diagnosis of occupational diseases at early stages. We also recognize the importance of, and the need to enhance the capacity for the prevention of occupational injuries.
“It is important that we face up to the challenges before us both with our hearts and our minds. And what we certainly need to do is to focus on the problems in the field of occupational diseases,” deputy head of the ILO Sandra Polaski said.
Anna Dobryuha
Source