|
Austria SOCIAL SECURITY
The origins of the contemporary Austrian social security
system date back to the end of the nineteenth century, when
rudimentary forms of social security were introduced for specific
occupational groups. Workers, employees, civil servants, farmers,
and the self-employed each paid into a different social security
plan. Workers and employees in Vienna, for example, paid into a
different social security fund than did civil servants in Vienna
or farmers in Tirol. The main thrust in the development of the
country's social security system in the twentieth century has
been the creation of a unified social insurance policy for all
occupational groups.
The organization of the social security system is complex.
The General Social Insurance Act of 1955, which has been
repeatedly amended, sets social security policy and makes
decisions on deciding such matters as the level of social
security payments and the kind and extent of benefits. However,
tax revenues are collected and benefits are dispersed by
individual insurance agencies or "carriers" for specific
occupational groups. In this respect, the social security system
is a national plan in terms of federal legislation but is not
centrally funded or administered.
The extent of social security coverage and the number of
benefits increased in Austria steadily from the end of World War
II until the early 1980s. As a result, Austria was among the most
highly developed welfare states in the world and had a
complicated system of direct taxes on employers and employees and
indirect taxes that financed a broad spectrum of benefits.
After the early 1980s, social policy entered a phase of
consolidation characterized by difficulties related to funding
extensive social security programs, growing levels of
unemployment, stagnating economic growth, increasing budget
deficits, and demographics of an aging population. However, as of
1993, Austria had managed to maintain its high level of social
security without major reductions in benefits.
Data as of December 1993
|
