독일과 오스트리아의 자영업자 고용보험 사례연구

The purpose of this study is to reveal the characteristics of the unemployment insurance systems for the self-employed in Germany and Austria and to check whether the system could be employed in Korea. The unemployment insurance systems in those countries are designed for wage workers who want to transition to self-employment to have a condition of entitlement to unemployment benefits. Therefore, it is restricted for the self-unemployed to join the unemployment insurance and thus is a voluntary base only for those who are eligible. However, the eligibility criteria for unemployment benefits are relatively hard for the self-employed to meet. Under these restrictions, it is not surprising that the rate of participation in the system is low. Another reason for their low participation rate is partly due to the fact that those countries operate an unemployment assistance system as well as unemployment insurance. Instead of participating in an expensive unemployment insurance system, the self-employed can be supported by unemployment assistance when they are bankrupt. Compared with the unemployment insurance system for the self-employed in Germany and Austria, the unemployment insurance in Korea is designed to be relatively self-employed friendly. The insurance payment is relatively low in Korea and it is even cheaper when the central and regional governments support the payment. However, the generosity of the Korean unemployment insurance system would be caused by the unavailability of the unemployment assistance system. Without unemployment assistance, it seems necessary to leave no dark corner by enlarging the coverage of the unemployment insurance system in the short run. Ultimately, the unemployment assistance system needs to be implemented to complement unemployment insurance in the long run.