Employee Benefits in Europe and the United States

Abstract

Abstract Countries face choices in establishing national systems of employee social insurance and employee benefits. They may rely heavily on private employers to provide for such needs as retirement income and health insurance. They may rely almost entirely on government to meet these needs. Or they may utilize a mix of both approaches. The choice that countries make about these matters ideally should reflect labor-market pressures and the employment relationship. Industrialized countries generally have made basic decisions about social insurance and benefits a long time ago. They are, in a sense, stuck with approaches designed in the past which may or may not accord with modem labor-market conditions. But sometimes events occur which allow reexamination of social insurance and benefit approaches. In particular, the countries which form the European Community (EC) are now wrestling with social issues including the role of social insurance and private employee benefit plans.