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WITH THE BUDGET just days away, the conversation around social welfare is set to intensify.
One of the talking points will be how our social welfare benefits compare to our EU counterparts.
So, how do we do?
The parameters: To start, it’s important to note that not all social protection systems around Europe are equal, but all of the EU15 pay some form of support to jobseekers.
For the purposes of this article we will be comparing how much money goes from the exchequer to a person every week solely for employment support.
We will not be factoring in housing, children or other supports. To compare like with like, our subject will be a 27-year-old who has lost a job and was paying PRSI or the national equivalent.
That means we are looking solely at the highest band of support. With that in mind, how do we compare?
Well, our example person will be able €193 a week under Jobseeker’s Benefit.
The benefit is available to people who suffer a “substantial loss of employment” and have a high enough PRSI contribution for two years. Based on the average weekly net income of €576 a week, this leaves our example earning 33.5% of their previous wage.
The allowance is usually benchmarked around the 30% mark. A person is entitled to remain on the benefit for six months if they have fewer than five years’ contributions. For over five years, that becomes nine months.
After that, the claimant moves to Jobseeker’s Allowance, which has a maximum rate identical to Jobseeker’s Benefit, €193.
Class A PRSI cost workers 4% of their gross weekly earnings.
So, would our person, single with no kids and living with family, be paid more if they lived in one of the EU15?
According to the European Commission:
“The basic amount of unemployment benefit is 55% of net daily income. This is calculated on the basis of the annual assessment base for social security contributions and appropriate extrapolation factors for one calendar year.”
Based on the average net salary of €23,208, that works out as €245 a week. Social insurance in Austria is 6% of salary, spread between the employer and employee.
The Belgian system is slightly more complex than ours, with different amounts being paid over different time periods of unemployment.
However, the bottom line is that the majority of employees who become involuntarily unemployed will earn 65% of their previous wage for the first three months, dropping to 60% for the next three.
Based on average net salaries, that means €287 a week, dropping to €265 a week.
Denmark’s system is another which is very different to Ireland. In Denmark, workers are obliged to join insurance funds.
There are 24 non-profit, state-supported schemes that pay out in the event of unemployment.
Payment of the benefit is contingent on being a member of a fund for a year. Then, it is 90% of your previous salary, capped at €505 a week.
Based on the average net salary of €39,204, a worker would receive that amount.
Employment fund membership costs between €55 and €75 a month.
For up to 100 weeks, workers who become unemployed in Finland can receive a daily allowance and 45% of the difference between that allowance and their average daily wage. Again, this contingent on membership of an employment fund (around 80% of Finns are).
According to Kela, the Social Insurance Institute of Finland, the average payment is around €32.40 a day – €162 a week.
Based on a five-day working week, the average daily wage in Finland is €115.
Adding the 45% difference to the basic allowance gives the worker an extra €187.50 a week, ending up with €349.50 a week or around 60% of their previous wage.
French workers pay 2.4% of their wage as a social security contribution.
If they are under 52 and contribute for four months in the last 28, they can stay on benefits for two years.
In France, as with some other countries, the rate of benefit is based on previous salary.
Thus, an average worker earning €26,700 net a year would be entitled to either 57% of their salary (or 40.4% plus €11.84 a day, whichever is larger).
That means an average worker will earn €292 a week. Some workers will, however, be entitled to up to 75% of their wage.
The German system entitles workers to claim 60% of their previous wage if they have worked for 12 months.
They will pay 3% unemployment insurance contribution on their gross monthly salary.
This means that the average waged worker (€27,240 net per year) would claim €314 per week.
This is capped at €5,950 a month in west, €5,000 in the east.
While paid monthly, Greece works its payment out on a “daily benefits” rate.
Each day corresponds to 55% of the unskilled worker’s minimum wage. According to the country’s labour agency, the monthly unemployment benefit is €360 a month.
This is against the backdrop of an average net monthly salary of €917 a month, meaning the payment is 39% of the average salary.
Italy is another country which bases its calculation of unemployment benefits on previous salary.
This time, they base it on your previous two years’ earnings. This is calculated as 75% of your salary up to a cap of €1,192 a month.
If a person had earned above that, they are paid 25% of the difference.
So an average earner, picking up €1,948 net a month before unemployment, would come out with €1,083 a month, or €270 a week.
This is phased down to 60% of wages after six months.
In Luxembourg, workers are entitled to 80% of their previous gross wage for their first three months of unemployment, as long as their benefit does not exceed 250% of the minimum wage.
This means that an average worker could be paid as much as €942 per week.
The Dutch system is particularly generous.
It gives qualifying workers – who have worked the last 26 of 36 weeks or 52 days a year in four of the last five years – a sizeable chunk of their wages.
For the first two months, you will be paid 75% of your wage, up to a maximum daily wage of €207.60.
This will drop to 70% for the duration of your eligibility, up to a maximum period of three years.
For an average wage worker (€25,824 a year, €2,152 a month, €538 a week, €76.85 a day), this translates to €403 a week.
If a person in Portugal has employment insurance, they will be paid 65% of their average earnings for the first six months, dropping by 10% thereafter.
This means an average worker will come out with around €137 a week.
Those without insurance are paid €419.22 a month or €104.80 a week.
Spain, like its Iberian neighbour, works out its rate based on previous earnings.
Workers are paid 70% of their previous wages for six months and 50% thereafter. This is capped at 175% of the IPREM, a reference multiplier.
For average workers earning a net of €20,998 a year, this works out at around €282 a week.
Sweden, like its near neighbours in Denmark and Finland, uses an employment insurance system.
According to TheLocal.se, most Swedes are signed up for the funds, which are administered by private organisations like trade unions.
Membership of the fund entitles workers to 80% of their previous income, limited to €70 a day.
For the average earner, that means €546 a week, €2,184 a month.
In the UK, over 25′s are paid £73.10 a week. This is equivalent to €82.70 a week or 18% of average earnings.
Conclusion
This is something of a blunt measurement of a very nuanced topic, but highlights that Ireland’s jobseeker’s benefit is delivered at a lower percentage of average earnings than other EU countries, the UK excepted.
Proponents of Ireland’s system will argue that the support is just one part of the social welfare safety net, pointing out that child benefit in Ireland is second in terms of monetary value only to Belgium.
They will add that the country has recently emerged from economic recession which saw the rate cut, slashed for under 25s, or frozen.
There is also the fact that some countries spend way in excess of what Ireland does on social welfare as a percentage of GDP. Here in Ireland, our €19 billion social welfare budget accounts for 16.1%. Denmark spends 28.7% and France 31.5%.
There is also the argument that some countries have a higher cost of living. However, this analysis checks welfare as a percentage of average earnings, not on a like-for-like basis.
The fact remains that an Irish person earning the average wage who loses their job will be much worse off in terms of cash in hand than in most other EU15 nations.
Department response
A query from TheJournal.ie asked the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection:
The response said that while there was no benchmarking against earnings, there are increases (starting at €128.10 a week) for those who have children as well as a fuel allowance.
“It should be noted that graduated rates of Jobseeker’s Benefit apply for those with average weekly earnings of less than €300 per week, to ensure that a person is not better off on Jobseeker’s Benefit than in employment.
“While most European countries pay Jobseeker’s Benefit as a proportion of reference earnings, some do not.
“For instance, in the UK, the rate of unemployment benefit is £73.10 (€82.70) per week (less than 15% of UK’s average earnings) for a single person and £114.85 per week (€129.90) for a couple.
“In Malta, the rate is €40.25 per week for a single person (less than 13% of average weekly earnings) and €61.55 per week for a married couple.
“In Poland, the maximum rate (for a person working for more than 20 years) is €225.60 per month, or €52.06 per week (approximately 23% of average weekly earnings) with no increases for couples or family supplements.”
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Nothing surprises me when it comes to the carry on of sc&mbags in this country anymore….
In this country? I think you mean in Dublin, no need to be broad when the crime problems are largely contained in one small corner.
Didn’t know Limerick was in Dublin
Isn’t the 90′s anymore grandad. Limerick is one of the safest parts of the country now while Dublin is far and away the most dangerous relative to population. And it’s getting worse, spiralling out of control even. It’s now earned a reputation as one of the dangerous cities in Europe.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/special-report-crime-analysis-reveals-meanest-and-safest-streets-234001.html
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/dublin-has-become-the-gun-murder-capital-of-europe-69575922-237669061.html
And where may I ask are you living ‘Rochelle’. Easy to make these statements when we don’t know who you are.
Play the ball… not the Rochelle
Where I’m from has no bearing on Dublin’s status as a crime blackspot. This isn’t opinion of course, I’ve provided stats that show its higher than average crime rate compared to the rest of the country and relative to population. Rather than looking for a slagging match maybe you should consider those.
Who would do such a thing. Sweet jesus christ
Don’t go blaming Jesus. There needs to be an investigation.
Beside the children’s hospital ? Have these fools got no cop on at all , did they not stop to think that part of the hospital may have had to be evacuated too ? Can you just imagine the fear in the poor sick kiddies
It was actually a good distance from the hospital Joan..
Elaine , well that’s good to hear ,
On and on it goes and not a peep out of Sinn Fein! More seats in Dail Eireann and more seats in the European Parliament but still not a word out of Sinn Fein.
These improvised devices put the lives of our Defence Force personnel at great personal risk and but for their courage and bravery the products of that dirty little sectarian conflict would be maiming and killing our people on the streets of Dublin and Dundalk and Limerick. In fact it is hard to tell where these little gems of Republican ingenuity and evil haven’t found themselves in pursuit of whatever goals that are currently the Orders of the Day.
And still not a peep out if our excessive cartridge users and our gun smugglers and our uniform wearing Members of the Political Wing of the IRA!
These pages are infested with them and the majority stay silent !
Well I’m tired of them telling us how appalling our politicians are as they slyly and brutally take what is not theirs and bludgeon their way to the levers of power.
Isn’t it time we told them to decide whether they want to be criminals and thugs or decent citizens?
Eejit.
To be fair it’s more likely to be one of the two or more gangs feuding in the area than republican dissidents although I suppose it’s possible that there is a republican element involved. Maybe some more facts before making assumptions.
Do you feel better after that Richard?
From pipe bomb to sinn fein in one go.. well done Richard.
Richard do you know who made this bomb and carried out the attack? The Army bomb disposal got there 2 hours ago and AFAIK no political party has condemned it. You and Patrick Lyons should meet up and go to group therapy to try to get over your pathological issues.
what are you talking about?
This type of activity has been going on for over 40 years. It is doing the country a great disservice.
I don’t support SF but I can tell you on a local level they are very vocal about anti social behaviour.
Glen, it depends on what you mean by anti-social behaviour. I consider bombings, shootings, torture and murder to be very anti social. All of these activities were carried out by various IRA gangs but I never heard SF condemning such actions.
Good man Patrick because only the IRA know how to make pipe bombs. You could never find any info on the internet about how to make them.
Richard needs a hug :-D
This type of crap happens all over the world Pickart
Do some of you not realise that there was a peace process. ? The comments on here are so far removed from today that I wonder what planet some people are on. There are feuding gangs all over the place. Nothing to do with politics .
I think Richard May have sand in his vagina!
Hardly IRA. Sounded very amaturish. Not to say that does not make it lethal
At least they disabled it —- a more dangerous device is on its way to all hospitals, Leo Veradkar.
Some can of p@% s , a brain scan might help you what a statement
Brian, so the IRA were not involved in bombings and shootings resulting in over 2,000 deaths, it was the man who looked it up on the internet?
Patrick I never said that. I was referring to your insinuation that a now defunct organization was some way involved in this. Any langer can make a pipe bomb but your paranoia sees non existant Provos everywhere!
A lot of the gang members have just joined other gangs. Disbanding one gang does not make everything all right or normal – the dead are still dead, the maimed are still maimed.
So Patrick, you agree that the PIRA has disbanded. Good for you, you won’t have to check under your bed tonight in case there are any Provo bogeymen under there!
Brian Ward
A full blown Member of Sinn Fein tells us the IRA have gone away and we have to believe him? Surely the fact that a gentlemen was arrested at a Lucan hotel a weeks ago in possession of a sixty pound primed car bomb would make us certain that these guys haven’t gone anywhere and their activities are just as murderous today as they were during their dirty little sectarian conflict.
In fact there is evidence to suggest that these folk are trading their bomb making expertise for cash with Dublin and Limerick drug gangs for cash which shows quite clearly that they are people of the highest integrity.
Brian please go away and try to find a few idiots to convince!
Regardless of who is responsible. Could whoever you are not just go elsewhere and fight it out. Have more compassion for the women and young sick children. Take it away from the innocent kids.
“Brian Ward
A full blown Member of Sinn Fein tells us the IRA have gone away and we have to believe him?”
Really Richard? A full blown member, that is certainly news to me. If you do have access to SF membership records would you kindly tell them that I never signed up to the party and please refund any monies that they have taken out of my account without my knowledge.
BTW you don’t have to believe me, you can always read the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning reports, or ask the British and Irish Governments, MI5, MI6, Garda CSB, and the PSNI or are they all wrong in saying that the Provos no longer exist. The lad in Lucan was an alleged dissident Republican who hate SF but don’t let that little thing distort your warped sense of reality.
LOL, a full blown member of SF. Only last week I was accused of being a right wing lackey of Fine Gael! Now I’m totally confused.
So pigfart your finally realising prohibition doesn’t work
I see no reason to think the IRA would have done that but it horrified me to know that is going on so close to so many of Dublins kids. It needs to stop.
Seems like everyone in Ireland is a political guru these days. Watching to much Love Hate. Duck politics and watch out for the kids. No safe kids, No future worth having. All Muppets if they don’t care about the kids.
Terrorism in all it’s shapes and forms is repugnant to any sane person. Gang warfare in this country in the last 40 years has always existed on the perifery of ‘republican’ and ‘loyalist’ factions, it is how their activities were, and are, funded. From the execution of the ‘General’ who refused to pay his percentage, to the assasination of Alan Ryan more recently, to the sale of IED’s by serving or ex members of parimilatary gangs means that the political influence can never really be ruled out. As such the general consensus among right minded people is that these actions and these crimes are wrong and must be flushed out of the very hidden corners of any political organisation, in order for it to be considered’democratic’. Failure of the leaders of any political party to wholly condemn all present and past acts of terrorism should mean expulsion from those parties, not only of the leaders, but any associated members. It is time that we decided that politics, crime, fraud and terrorism cannot mix. An invisible border does not, and should not, excuse anybody from acts of terrorism, like for instance the ‘kneecapping’ of an 18vyear old yesterday in Northern Ireland. Would any politician from any party like to comment, especially those parties active on both sides of the border. Both states have a police force, both states have political parties committed to democratic principles, or socialist ideals. So, how far removed from criminal and subversive acts are our political parties, I would have to weigh in on the side of taking the blinkers off and actually taking a good hard sniff of the coffee fumes.
Just incase you don’t know where Drimnagh is, it’s beside Crumlin!
Drimnagh is a very big area and Crumlin is very spread out area. I’d like to know where device was planted… Was it actually near the childrens’ hospital.??
Why the f!*k a kids hospital? There is answer to justify these actions
I live in the area it was found nowhere near the hospital or near crumlin. I’d love to find out where you get your info from.
have your say