ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the major income maintenance programs in the Norwegian welfare system with respect to the degree of activation orientation. It points out some salient features of changes and trends in socioeconomic conditions in Norwegian society. The rhetoric accompanying the introduction and continuance of the Norwegian Work Approach in the 1990s suggests that stated attempts to balance change with continuity produces an ambiguous social policy discourse. The chapter presents brief accounts of the main features and relevant changes in the most important schemes in the Norwegian system of social protection. The following policy areas are singled out: the disability benefit/pension; medical/vocational rehabilitation allowance/services; sickness benefit/sick pay scheme; social assistance; active labor market programs; unemployment benefit; and transitional benefit for single parents. The chapter discusses the intensity of reform activities in Sickness Benefit partly to the reoccurring debates on absence rates, and partly to the overall importance ascribed by the Work Approach to prevention and early intervention.
