Australian Unemployment Protection: Challenges and New Directions

This paper examines Australia’s scheme of unemployment protection and makes some comparisons with unemployment protection in the United States of America. Because unemployment protection arrangements in the two countries are very distinct, the paper initially describes two broad systems: unemployment insurance (UI) and unemployment assistance (UA) as alternative ways to protect workers against the effects of unemployment. Australia operates a system of unemployment protection that limits eligibility to unemployed persons and families with low income. Its system of unemployment assistance (UA) has existed for more than 50 years. The United States has operated unemployment insurance (UI) since the late 1930s.