ABSTRACT
During the first decades of the twentieth century, a majority of European countries introduced national-level policies compensating against the effects of unemployment. However, the institutional features of these policies vary significantly. In some rare instances, governments have attempted to organise unemployment assistance as a means-tested system, in analogy to and as a continuation of pre-existing policies of poor relief; in other cases, they have chosen to subsidise unemployment insurance funds organised by trade unions; finally, a few countries have succeeded in introducing a system of compulsory unemployment insurance that is financed by contributions made by both employers and employees.
