Norway has some of the best sick leave benefits in the world. Workers receive full pay and the flexibility to make responsible decisions for their health and job. Norway also has the highest rate of people using sick leave. This has made some wonder whether the benefits are too high.
OsloMet professor Kjetil van der Wel says that these worries are unfounded. In fact, his research shows that these benefits not only keep people healthy and financially secure, they actually encourage people to remain in the workforce.
Substantial benefits
When you get sick in Norway, you have the right to 100% compensation. You simply report that you are sick and continue to collect your pay. A longer absence requires a note from your physician. Your employer covers the cost of the first two weeks and then the state steps in if you are sick for longer. Managing illness is a conversation between you, your physician, and your employer.
Professor van der Wel is a sociologist who studies how welfare programs like this one support people. He says that we should think of sick leave benefits as part of the broader social welfare system. It is an arrangement built on trust that helps create good living and work conditions.
It’s an intriguing story, but it doesn’t add up with the statistics– Kjetil van der Wel
One of the main benefits of sick leave support is that it keeps sick people in the workforce. Van der Wel points out this flexibility lets someone take time off when they are not feeling well, but still keep their job. This helps employers too since they don’t need to spend time and money to find a replacement worker. It also allows people with chronic illness and disability to stay in the labour market. Overall, these sick leave policies provide a major benefit to the economy.
“Illness can have quite harsh economic consequences for families, particularly for families in the lower income groups” says van der Wel. Norway’s sick leave benefits mean that families don’t become destitute if one of the breadwinners gets sick. This reduces welfare costs in the long term and creates better opportunities for children in affected families.
Norwegians take the most sick leave
Norway’s National Registry helps researchers like van der Wel understand how people use sick leave. It includes statistics like benefit amounts, time to return to work, and how many days people take off. This last value, which shows that Norwegians take more sick leave than any other country in the world, has sparked concern among employers and policymakers.
Some worry that generous benefits will make people detached from work or take advantage of the system. If this were the case, we would expect to see a long-term undermining of the national work ethic and lower employment, especially among youths.
“It’s an intriguing story, but it doesn’t add up with the statistics” says van der Wel.
Sick leave supports the economy
According to his research, Norway’s high sickness absence rate and substantial benefits do not impede labour market participation. In fact, they support high employment.
The sickness absence level and sick pay arrangements in Norway have coexisted with high employment for more than three decades. In that time, employment rates have remained steady and the proportion of young adults who have good careers has increased. Norway even boasts some of the lowest unemployment in Europe.
Norway’s work ethic remains strong too. In one of his studies, van der Wel found that 79% of Norwegians say they would enjoy having a paid job even if they did not need the money (compared to less than 50% in Spain and only 23% in the Czech Republic).
“The potential of generous sickness benefits to ruin work ethics and create welfare dependency is overstated” concludes van der Wel.
An international example
Norway stands out from other European countries. The benefits are high and more people take sick leave. However, van der Wel points out that the actual number of people on welfare benefits in Norway is average for Europe.
The difference, van der Wel says, is in the level of support.
Because of this support, Norway is considered one of the best countries to live and work in. The poverty rate is low and there are fewer social problems. Van der Wel argues that the requirement for employers to pay early-stage sick leave benefits also encourages better working conditions, especially for manual labour jobs.
In contrast, many other European countries have more people on welfare, they just aren’t getting the same benefits. Plus, as van der Wel points out, “simply because people in other countries aren’t on sick leave doesn’t mean they aren’t sick, just that they have to rely on social assistance or other benefits".
Even better
While Norway’s sick leave benefits are strong, van der Wel and other researchers still see room for improvement. Norway spends around 60 billion NOK each year on sick leave and this is likely to increase as the population ages. There is a disparity regarding who takes sick leave with women and lower educated workers taking more. One of the biggest concerns is maintaining trust in the system so that the arrangement can continue to benefit the population.
These are all achievable goals.
Van der Wel says that the benefits of sick leave far outweigh the costs. They support a strong workforce and encourage better working conditions. These benefits are popular and supported by politicians, workers, and unions. They are a part of what makes Norway an attractive place to live and work.
Some relevant articles:
- Nordheim, O., & van der Wel, K. A. (2025). Are there diminishing returns to social spending? Social policy, health and health inequalities in European countries. A comparative longitudinal survey data analysis. Social Science & Medicine, 117721.
- Heglum, M. A. (2024). Transformed ‘postmodern’ life courses? Continuity and change in young adults’ labour market trajectories in Norway. European Sociological Review, 40(3), 417-433.
- Van der Wel, K. A., & Halvorsen, K. (2015). The bigger the worse? A comparative study of the welfare state and employment commitment. Work, employment and society, 29(1), 99-118.
- Van der Wel, K. A., Bambra, C., Dragano, N., Eikemo, T. A., & Lunau, T. (2015). Risk and resilience: Health inequalities, working conditions and sickness benefit arrangements: An analysis of the 2010 European Working Conditions survey. Sociology of health & illness, 37(8), 1157-1172.
- Dahl, E., & van der Wel, K. A. (2013). Educational inequalities in health in European welfare states: a social expenditure approach. Social science & medicine, 81, 60-69.
- Van der Wel, K. A., Dahl, E., & Thielen, K. (2011). Social inequalities in ‘sickness’: European welfare states and non-employment among the chronically ill. Social science & medicine, 73(11), 1608-1617.
