10/08/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/08/2024 07:00
This report focuses on unemployment and minimum income benefits for people of working age. Individuals with short or no employment records (mainly young people), the self-employed, those with non-standard working arrangements, and the long-term unemployed are often not entitled to higher-tier, or any, unemployment benefits. No Member State was identified where more than 80% of those entitled to minimum income benefits receive them. Benefit recipients at higher risk of having an inadequate income include those without access to social housing in areas with high housing costs, unemployed individuals whose most recent job was low paid and the long-term unemployed people. The report also investigates the rejection of applications (frequently, around 30% are rejected), the digitalisation of application processes (most common for unemployment benefits) and economic activation requirements (typically, 1-6% of benefit recipients annually are sanctioned for not complying with activity requirements) and service entitlements.
Social protection 2.0: Unemployment and minimum income benefits
English(3.06 MB - PDF)
Social protection includes a range of monetary and in-kind entitlements. This report focuses on unemployment and minimum income benefits for people of working age. These include lower-tier unemployment benefits in the 12 Member States where they exist, for people whose higher-tier benefits have run out or who cannot access them. These benefits cushion against decreases in income due to unemployment and prevent income from dropping below a certain level. The report maps coverage gaps, non-take-up and inadequacy, and how these benefits are tied to entitlements and access to services. It discusses digital application procedures, application rejections, financial (dis)incentives for benefit recipients to engage in work or training, and recipient characteristics.
The Treaty on European Union confirms Member States' attachment to fundamental social rights defined in the European Social Charter, including improving social security and protecting against poverty and social exclusion. The targets in the 2021 European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, to be reached by 2030, include '[t]he number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion should be reduced by at least 15 million' and 'at least 78% of the population aged 20 to 64 should be in employment'. The 2019 Council recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed recommends that Member States provide access to adequate social protection to all workers and the self-employed. The 2023 recommendation on adequate minimum income ensuring active inclusion calls on Member States to modernise minimum income schemes. The 2021 High-Level Group on the future of social protection and of the welfare state in the EU highlights the link between monetary benefits and access to services, arguing for a social investment approach.
Social protection 2.0: Unemployment and minimum income benefits
English(58.22 KB - PDF)The report contains the following lists of tables and figures.
Cite this publication
Eurofound (2024), Social protection 2.0: Unemployment and minimum income benefits, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.