91999E2236

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2236/99

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Replacement rates

What are the typical replacement rates (benefit payments on unemployment as a percentage of earnings) for each of the Member States and, for comparison, the United States and Japan?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(11 January 2000)

The definition and management of social benefit schemes including their relative level of assistance, the replacement rates fall within the responsibility and legal competence of the Member States.

Policy issues related to tax and benefit systems, and their impact on the labour market, have been given an increasing weight in the employment guidelines(1) and the broad economic policy guidelines in recent years.

Some analysis and data on replacement rates for the Community, the United States and Japan have been published in The EU Economy 1999 Review, Part II, Chapter 2(2), and further analysis based on data from the European Community household panel (ECHP) will be published in the forthcoming Social Protection in Europe report 1999. These documents deal with some of the conceptual issues involved in defining and measuring replacement rates and provide some examples of the results obtained.

(1) OJ C 69, 12.3.1999.

(2) European Economy series No 69.