What can we demand from Social Security in times of economic crisis and how can we favour its economic, political and social stability?

Abstract

Social Security has been affected by the economic and financial crisis that we've been experiencing for just over six years. The crisis has caused a loss of financial resources, stemming from the decrease in the number of contributors, as well as from the slowing down of the average contribution base. This recent situation has created the need to look for sources of complementary financing, other than the traditional sources that came from social contributions.

However, despite what we may have expected, the social and mainly political debates that have taken place only consider reducing spending related to social benefits, leaving another big issue pending, that relates to the improvement of Social Security funding. Because of this, the current conversation can be defined as deliberately partial, as new solutions have not been explored in order to alleviate the problems discussed.

It is worth noting the efforts made in this moment of crisis by the Social Security Administration in order to efficiently develop the management with which they are entrusted, particularly by controlling debt and fraud, but also in their attempts to favour legalization of business and self-employment debts by authorizing the deferment of the payment of debts to Social Security. At the same time they have liberated assets to the system from the Reserve Fund in order to promote a balanced budget.

For these reasons, the article brings into question the frugality of initiatives that is seen when searching for alternative financing sources for Social Security, and offers some solutions taken from nearby countries which could serve as an example to improve the Spanish model.

Finally, there is mention of the need to improve and adapt the current employment policy, specifically the active employment measures, which do not accommodate the needs of the labour market.