Viking Magazine - August 2019 - 46

Ambassador's Insights
Social Welfare Services-A Good Investment
BY AMBASSADOR KÅRE R. AAS
very now and then I meet
people who ask me about
the level of social welfare
services available in Norway. Many
are impressed by the coverage,
which includes health care benefits
for everyone, one year of parental
leave, unemployment benefits and
a minimum retirement payment-
even for people who have never
worked.
Others believe the Norwegian
system is far too generous and puts
an unnecessarily heavy burden on
taxpayers.
Some suggest to me that the
system wouldn't be possible without
Norway's current oil revenues. I
therefore always make sure to point
out that it wasn't Norway's oil money
that made the social benefit system
possible. The legal basis for it, the
National Insurance Act, was adopted in
1967-two years before oil was found
in the Norwegian part of the North Sea.
It was a result of forward thinking by
political leaders, and a recognition of
the benefits of the system for society as
a whole.
Various other measures to support
employees who lose their income had
gradually been introduced in Norway
before 1967. Industrial workers were,
for instance, covered as early as 1894
by a government plan that would
provide some support to victims of
work-related accidents. A means-tested
retirement plan for all was introduced
in 1937.
Today, all inhabitants of Norway,
regardless of whether they have
an income, have access to certain
46 VIKING AUGUST 2019 sonsofnorway.com
fundamental services. Such access
is widely seen as a right. It is paid
for through contributions from the
government as well as from employers
and employees.
Generally, it is considered to be
beneficial not only to the individual,
but to society as a whole. In Norway,
we believe that it pays to take care of
people. We don't see a contradiction
between economic performance and
the well-being of the population. On
the contrary: the latter in many ways
contributes to the former.
In my opinion, this way of thinking
at least partly explains why Norway
and the other Nordic countries tend
to perform well economically and at
the same time come out on-or close
to-the top of, for instance, the World
Happiness Report or the ranking of the
UN Human Development Report.
There also seems to be a clear parallel
to the UN Gender Inequality Index. We
know that 81 percent of Norwegian
E
women with young children are
working outside of the home.
Without the flexibility offered by
our social welfare services, this
might not have been possible. The
result would have been a significant
reduction of Norway's gross
national income.
It shows that gender equality and
economic empowerment of women
is, quite simply, smart business.
Benching or marginalizing half of
the population, isn't.
There is no doubt that access to
social welfare services reduces the
extent of poverty in a society. Which
again has an impact on the level of
crime, on nutrition and the general
level of health among the population,
and ultimately on the overall economic
productivity of the country in question.
I'm not saying that there are no
challenges to our system of social
welfare services. The aging of the
population, globalization and postindustrial
marginalization of certain
groups within the labor market are some
of them. But the system has proven able
to adapt to challenges before. And I'm
convinced it will do so again.
About the Author
Ambassador Kåre R.
Aas currently serves as
Norway's Ambassador
to the United States.
facebook.com/
NorwegianEmbassyinWashington/
@kareraas
PHOTO BY BECCA DILLEY
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Viking Magazine - August 2019

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