Unemployment Insurance — A Series of Social Security Textbooks for the 21st Century

Author: Yang Weizhong, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-12-01
Features: This book elaborates on the meaning and historical development of unemployment insurance; the relationship between unemployment insurance and social insurance and economic security; the collection and payment of unemployment insurance benefits; the level of unemployment insurance benefits; the impact of time on unemployment and employment; the social functions of unemployment insurance; the organization and management of unemployed individuals and employment training; the necessity of achieving full employment and the relevant socio-economic conditions. Starting from the significance of labor to the existence and development of human society, and taking labor as the fundamental need of human beings and the core embodiment of their survival value and meaning, this book concludes with full employment. It demonstrates that, on one hand, the unemployment insurance system is indispensable within the entire institutional framework of a market economy society; on the other hand, the functions of the unemployment insurance system are ultimately limited. The ideal goal we pursue is that, through the joint efforts of individuals, enterprises, governments, and society, every person with labor capacity and the desire to work can achieve employment, and the labor rights of every worker can be guaranteed and realized.
Between this logical starting point and endpoint, the book takes the historical transformation processes of industrialization, urbanization, and marketization as the background, and the evolution of unemployment insurance from its inception to institutionalization, as well as recent reforms of the system in various countries, as the main thread. It explains the transition of human society from labor to employment under the influence of market mechanisms, analyzes the relationship between employment and unemployment, and examines the impact of political, economic, social, and cultural factors on this relationship.
The book systematically introduces the meaning of the unemployment insurance system, its constituent elements, the collection, management, and payment of unemployment insurance funds, the level and calculation basis of unemployment insurance benefits and related models, the impact of benefit duration and level on reemployment, and the socio-economic functions of the unemployment insurance system. Beyond theoretical explanations of concepts, propositions, and fundamental principles in the field of unemployment insurance, the book also introduces the unemployment insurance systems of several representative countries: free-market capitalism—United States; welfare capitalism—United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany; and East Asian capitalism—Japan and South Korea, along with the problems and ongoing reforms in each system.
Additionally, the book dedicates two chapters to analyzing and discussing China's unemployment and layoffs issues, the establishment and reform of China's unemployment insurance system, and China's anti-unemployment and employment promotion policies. This book is written as a textbook for undergraduate students in social security and related fields. Our objective is to provide students and professionals in the field of social security with basic knowledge and theories of unemployment insurance, while guiding readers to reflect on how to address the relationship between individuals and society, as well as between individuals and the government, within the context of unemployment insurance.