ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with issues related to how the state in advanced capitalist countries handles unemployment. It focuses on the employment protection legislation (EPL) that is generally oriented towards making it more difficult and/or more costly for employers to lay off workers. The overall purpose is to reduce the risk of workers being arbitrarily or quickly dismissed, and suddenly having no job and no income. The chapter concentrates on aspects of social protection in connection with unemployment; it goes without saying that EPL, passive labor market policy (PLMP) and active labor market policy (ALMP) must be focal points. The chapter concentrates types of state intervention with regard to unemployment in advanced capitalist countries. They have important functions in keeping down the flow from jobs to unemployment, in providing the unemployed with income and in increasing chances for employment. Thereby they also contribute to a reduction in poverty and other difficulties that jobless individuals are often confronted with.
