European social policy offers a notable contrast to social policy in the United States in that it contains supranational legislation and regulation and places a strong emphasis on employment as well as workers’ rights and benefits. Several key policies that directly concern family, childcare, and maternity needs are framed in terms of workers. For example, social security benefits in the United States extend to dependent adolescents, the elderly, and the mentally disabled. In European labour law‘s “Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,” the phrase “social security,” paired with “social protection,” is applied solely to workers; even unemployment is directly addressed by strong promotions of employment.
One feature of European social policy that lacks an American counterpart (nationally, at least) is the Parental Leave Directive. The clauses of this legislation focus on various reasons why an employee can not work temporarily, such as childcare, family illness/death, and “specific needs for adoptive parents.” The benefits equally extend to both men and women (maternity leave and pregnancy care is a separate directive), and the final clause allows for more favorable new and revised regulations.
The logic behind the various and numerous benefits for workers makes sense. Although welfare and similar measures are admirable efforts to combat poverty, the focus on the provision of workers’ benefits may provide more effective incentives to seek work. However, this certainly does not fully account for structural issues of unemployment, such as spatial displacement. In any case, a system that largely depends on its workers should provide compelling incentives, benefits, and rewards for working.
Social Policy 