Moving towards Employment Insurance -
Unemployment Insurance and Employment Protection in the OECD
Klaus Schömann, Stefanie Flechtner, Ralf Mytzek, Isabelle Schömann
The report takes issue with the large debate of social security systems and
particularly the large expenditure devoted to unemployment insurance in most
OECD countries. From the perspective of transitional labour markets we analyse
the corresponding welfare regime focusing on employment and unemployment
transitions. We propose a restructuring of national social security systems
towards an employment insurance system. This entails a considerable
reorganisation of most current social security systems mainly unemployment
insurance, employment protection, pension systems, household work and life-long
learning.
We advocate an integrated view of employment protection and
unemployment insurance systems which yields three major types of employment
insurance systems in the OECD (comprehensive institutional data base in
Appendix). Subsequently we discuss major recent changes in unemployment
insurance systems throughout the OECD in view of their contribution towards the
development of an Employment Insurance. Despite severe financial constraints on
national levels, decentralisation and regionalisation of provision gives a new
flavour to the ambitious goal of a right to work and its implementation.