In 2023, nearly 56,000 people took part in vocational rehabilitation measures under disability insurance (AI) in Switzerland. More than 25,000 have obtained a job or can work again, welcomes the Confederation.
Successive AI reforms have reinforced the principle of professional rehabilitation: the right to a pension is examined only when all rehabilitation possibilities have been exhausted, the Federal Social Insurance Office (OFAS) recalled in a press release on Monday.
The aim is to be able to react quickly in the event of health problems, while the person is still in the work process. The probability of avoiding a disability situation is then the highest.
Three times more since 2008
This approach is paying off, according to the office. The number of participants in rehabilitation measures has continued to increase in recent years: in 2023, there will be more than 55,800, three times more than in 2008. There are approximately as many men as there are women who requested a rehabilitation measure.
The OFAS notes differences between ages. The majority of those under 25 have benefited from professional measures, such as initial training, orientation or even placement. Those over 55 rather benefit from early intervention measures, which make it possible, for example, to adapt the workstation within a company or to relocate the person to a more suitable subsidiary.
Doubling of costs
Over the same period, rehabilitation costs doubled to reach 886 million francs in 2023. The bulk of the expenditure (68%, or 602 million), concerned professional measures.
Among these, initial professional training represents the largest investment. Daily allowances for 33,400 people in 2023 amounted to a total of 608 million francs. Measures and compensation represent 16% of the overall cost of AI expenditure, which amounts to approximately 10.1 billion.
ats/ebz
