Building Rights-Based Unemployment Protection Schemes: Guidance from ILO Social Security Standards

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stark reminder of the critical role of unemployment protection schemes in guaranteeing income security to persons who have lost their jobs and earnings and are seeking employment. This brief outlines the standards constituting the backbone of the ILO's approach to supporting countries in designing and implementing unemployment protection schemes.

• The principles and parameters enshrined in international social security standards provide meaningful guidance for the effective implementation of rights-based unemployment protection schemes that take into account the need for coordination with employment promotion objectives.
• The ILO Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) defines internationally agreed minimum levels of protection as well as the core principles for the governance, administration and financing for the nine life-course risks which represent the core of comprehensive social protection systems.
• The ILO Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment Convention, 1988 (No. 168) and its accompanying Recommendation No. 176 are the more advanced standards in the field of unemployment protection. These standards underline the importance of implementing unemployment protection schemes in coordination with employment policies designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment.