History
The Ministry of Labor, Family and Social Protection was created in 1920, after World War I. The purpose of the ministry was to reorganize the social classes and provide aid for the poor in the Kingdom of Romania. The system worked even during World War II, as the King of Romania himself encouraged the concept of social welfare. [5]
After the war ended and the Communist regime came to power, Romania became a socialist state, and therefore social welfare became widespread. [6]
In 1990, after the fall of the communist regime, the whole system was reformed. It was divided into multiple categories, and the concept of generalized social welfare was reduced. [7]
Today
Social welfare is subdivided into multiple categories.
Child care
Maternity care is free in Romania. As soon as mothers give birth, they are entitled to vacation time and receive aid which amounts to 85% of their net income without a limit being set. [8] After the age of two, children receive an allowance up until the age of 18, although they must attend school in order to be eligible. [9]
Education in Romania is free and compulsory until age 16, when children are eligible for part-time work. Free school meals are provided for all children, and there is no requirement that parents or guardians pay for class supplies. [10] Children up until the age of 18 also receive subsidies for public transportation to and from school. [11] [12]
Adults
Adults are entitled to certain kinds of welfare, the most widespread being subsidies for heat and electricity, provided through municipalities who receive funding from the Ministry of Labor. In 2012 it was noted that funding for this welfare had been reduced and those previously in receipt of aid no longer eligible, unless the applicant earned below a certain income level. [13]
Adults are also eligible for unemployment aid, the amount varying from case to case, but generally comparable to the minimum wage (800 RON). Unemployment aid may be granted if the applicant has contributed and if they can prove they are actively seeking a job. It is granted on a time-limited, individually determined basis. [14]
There is also a subsidy available for funeral arrangements amounting to 2000 RON, and given regardless of the circumstances. In order to be eligible for assistance, a death certificate is required. [15]
Disability
People with disabilities also receive welfare. The amount depends on an individual's assessed disability and is normally granted until the end of life, or until the disability has been successfully treated. It has been discovered that some beneficiaries of disability welfare are not truly disabled. Consequently, the potential for fraudulent claims has sparked debate in Romania. [16]
Elderly
A pension is provided by the state. Women retire at the age of 62, and men at 65. [17] The pension is granted regardless of whether contributions are made. The minimum pension given is 350 RON, increasing in proportion to contributions made during working life. Some retirees have pensions in excess of the median salary, however one third live off a pension equal to or under the minimum wage. [18] Retirees also receive subsidies for public transportation.
Welfare is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance programs, which provide support only to those who have previously contributed, as opposed to social assistance programs, which provide support on the basis of need alone. The International Labour Organization defines social security as covering support for those in old age, support for the maintenance of children, medical treatment, parental and sick leave, unemployment and disability benefits, and support for sufferers of occupational injury.
Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment or unemployment compensation, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a compulsory governmental insurance system, not taxes on individual citizens. Depending on the jurisdiction and the status of the person, those sums may be small, covering only basic needs, or may compensate the lost time proportionally to the previous earned salary.
Welfare reforms are changes in the operation of a given welfare system, with the goals of reducing the number of individuals dependent on government assistance, keeping the welfare systems affordable, and assisting recipients to become self-sufficient. Classical liberals and conservatives generally argue that welfare and other tax-funded services reduce incentives to work, exacerbate the free-rider problem, and intensify poverty. On the other hand, socialists generally criticize welfare reform because it usually minimizes the public safety net and strengthens the capitalist economic system. Welfare reform is constantly debated because of the varying opinions on the government's determined balance of providing guaranteed welfare benefits and promoting self-sufficiency.
Guaranteed minimum income (GMI), also called minimum income, is a social-welfare system that guarantees all citizens or families an income sufficient to live on, provided that certain eligibility conditions are met, typically: citizenship; a means test; and either availability to participate in the labor market, or willingness to perform community services.
A disability pension is a form of pension given to those people who are permanently or temporarily unable to work due to a disability.
Social welfare, assistance for the ill or otherwise disabled and the old, has long been provided in Japan by both the government and private companies. Beginning in the 1920s, the Japanese government enacted a series of welfare programs, based mainly on European models, to provide medical care and financial support. During the post-war period, a comprehensive system of social security was gradually established.
Social security, in Australia, refers to a system of social welfare payments provided by Australian Government to eligible Australian citizens, permanent residents, and limited international visitors. These payments are almost always administered by Centrelink, a program of Services Australia. In Australia, most payments are means tested.
Social security is divided by the French government into four branches: illness; old age/retirement; family; work accident; and occupational disease. From an institutional point of view, French social security is made up of diverse organismes. The system is divided into three main Regimes: the General Regime, the Farm Regime, and the Self-employed Regime. In addition there are numerous special regimes dating from prior to the creation of the state system in the mid-to-late 1940s.
Welfare in France includes all systems whose purpose is to protect people against the financial consequences of social risks.
Disability benefits are funds provided from public or private sources to a person who is ill or who has a disability.
Social security in Finland, or welfare in Finland, is, compared to other countries’, very comprehensive. In the late 1980s, Finland had one of the world's most advanced welfare systems, one that guaranteed decent living conditions for all Finns. Since then social security has been cut back, but still the system is one of the most comprehensive in the world. Created almost entirely during the first three decades after World War II, the social security system was an outgrowth of the traditional Nordic belief that the state was not inherently hostile to the well-being of its citizens, but could intervene benevolently on their behalf. According to some social historians, the basis of this belief was a relatively benign history that had allowed the gradual emergence of a free and independent peasantry in the Nordic countries and had curtailed the dominance of the nobility and the subsequent formation of a powerful right wing. Finland's history has been harsher than the histories of the other Nordic countries, but not harsh enough to bar the country from following their path of social development.
Pensions in Spain consist of a mandatory state pension scheme, and voluntary company and individual pension provision.
The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Government of India that provides financial assistance to the elderly, widows and persons with disabilities in the form of social pensions.
The Welfare Reform Act 2012 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom which makes changes to the rules concerning a number of benefits offered within the British social security system. It was enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 8 March 2012.
As unemployed according to the art. 2 of the Ukrainian Law on Employment of Population are qualified citizens capable of work and of employable age, who due to lack of a job do not have any income or other earnings laid down by the law and are registered in the State Employment Center as looking for work, ready and able to start working. This definition also includes persons with disabilities who not attained retirement age and are registered as seeking employment.
Welfare fraud is the act of illegally using state welfare systems by knowingly withholding or giving information to obtain more funds than would otherwise be allocated.
South Korea's pension scheme was introduced relatively recently, compared to other democratic nations. Half of the country's population aged 65 and over lives in relative poverty, or nearly four times the 13% average for member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This makes old age poverty an urgent social problem. Public social spending by general government is half the OECD average, and is the lowest as a percentage of GDP among OECD member countries.
Welfare in Israel refers to the series of social welfare schemes in the Israeli government which are administered by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services, and by Israel's national social security agency, Bituah Leumi. All residents of Israel must pay insurance contributions in order to qualify for welfare.
Public pensions in Greece are designed to provide incomes to Greek pensioners upon reaching retirement. For decades pensions in Greece were known to be among the most generous in the European Union, allowing many pensioners to retire earlier than pensioners in other European countries. This placed a heavy burden on Greece's public finances which made the Greek state increasingly vulnerable to external economic shocks, culminating in a recession due to the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent European debt crisis. This series of crises has forced the Greek government to implement economic reforms aimed at restructuring the pension system and eliminating inefficiencies within it. Measures in the Greek austerity packages imposed upon Greek citizens by the European Central Bank have achieved some success at reforming the pension system despite having stark ramifications for standards of living in Greece, which have seen a sharp decline since the beginning of the crisis.
South Africa has one of the most extensive social welfare systems among developing countries in the world. In South Africa today, 12.4 million people receive some form of social grant provided by the government.
