Korea operates the Employment Insurance System as one of its social insurances and the Public Assistance System as a separate social security system. Contrastly, in Spain, the General Social Security Act (Ley General de la Seguridad Social) establishes a unified system of social security based on contributions and operates unemployment benefits as one benefit of the overall social security system. This paper explores the contents of the General Social Security Act and the related institutions on unemployment in Spain.
Spain's unemployment protection covers a wide range of occupations including self-employed workers. The Act have sought to reform the country's social security system and provide greater protection for workers, including self-employed, farmers, sailors and so on. The Act included various provisions for the protection from unemployment such as increasing employer contributions and extending coverage to previously excluded groups. However, despite these efforts, Spain continues to face high levels of unemployment, particularly among younger workers.
This study examines the effectiveness and implications of the General Social Security Act with analyzing Spain’s legal and institutional responses to the unemployment in the perspective of the social security. The findings suggest that the Spain’s institutional efforts to struggle for solving unemployment may give implications to Korea and be helpful for Korea to fully face the unemployment challenges.