Open AccessSocial Unemployment Insurance: A case (more or less) in favour
Author(s) -
Grant Duncan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
policy quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2324-1101
pISSN - 2324-1098
DOI - 10.26686/pq.v17i4.7312
Subject(s) - unemployment , disadvantage , general partnership , poverty , social insurance , compensation (psychology) , restructuring , economics , labour economics , flexicurity , social policy , income support , public economics , political science , economic growth , law , finance , macroeconomics , market economy , psychology , psychoanalysis
Budget 2021 announced a social unemployment insurance (SUI) system, to be developed in partnership with BusinessNZ and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, and modelled on the accident compensation (ACC) scheme. This new policy addresses the needs of workers involuntarily laid off as industries restructure and seek new skills. This article considers concerns raised about the SUI proposal, drawing comparisons with the ACC experience. While SUI would perpetuate market income inequalities and may not do much to prevent poverty, it could also reduce other sources of inconsistency and disadvantage.