User:Jpreciado97/sandbox

Iceland
To receive unemployment benefits in Iceland, one must submit an application to the Directorate of Labour (Vinnumálastofnun) and meet a specific criteria set forth by the department. Icelandic employment rates have traditionally been higher than every other OECD country. In the most recent financial quarter, 85.8 percent of the Icelandic working-age population were employed, with only 2.8 percent of the population unemployed. When broken down by age group, Iceland's labor force is highly active, with 74.9 percent of the population between the ages of 15 to 24 years old and 89.4 percent of people between the ages of 25 to 55 years old active in the labor market. This low rate of unemployment is attributed to the adoption of the Ghent system, which has been adopted by the countries of Denmark, Finland and Sweden, and highly emphasizes trade and labor unions to provide unemployment benefits and protections to workers, which ultimately has led to higher union membership than other capitalist economies. The safety net that these unions provide also leads to more stable job retention and less reliance on part-time employment. Only 11.9 percent of the working population is dependent on temporary employment.

Unlike purely social-democratic states in Europe, the Nordic model that Iceland adopted borrows aspects of both a social-democratic and liberal-welfare state. Iceland not only sees high government involvement in providing social welfare and ammenities as with the social-democratic model, but like the liberal-welfare model, it is also heavily reliant on free trade and markets. The country relies on an open capitalistic market for economic growth, yet also embraces a corporatist system that allows for wage bargaining to occur between the labor force and employers in order to protect workers and ensure provisions like unemployment benefits are ensured. Currently, the legislation that ensures these benefits is The Act on Trade Unions and Industrial Disputes, which was adopted in 1938 and has been amended five times since its inception to adjust to the rise of globalization. In Section 1, Articles 1-13 grant trade unions the right to organize and negotiate with employers over fair wages for its members as well as representation for their members in the event of workplace conflicts. These rights for organized unions set forth by the Ministry of Welfare not only provide the country's labor force fair and equal representation within their respective industries, but also allow for these organizations to maintain an active relationship with the Icelandic government to discuss economic issues, promote labor and social equality, and ensure benefits for unemployed laborers, as these unions are highly centralized and not politically affiliated.

Unemployment benefits in Iceland (atvinnuleysisbætur) can involve up to 100 percent reimbursement per month for wage earners for a maximum of 30 months. However, these rates of reimbursement are determined by previous status of employment, such as either a wage-earner or self-employed, as well as meeting certain mandates such as being a current resident of Iceland, be actively searching for employment, and retaining a 25 percent position for three months within the past 12 months before filing for unemployment. Unemployed workers can be compensated through either basic or income-linked benefits. Basic unemployment benefits can cover both wage-earning and self-employing individuals for the first half-month (10 days) after they lose their job, whereas income-linked benefits can cover wage-earning and self-employing individuals for up to three months based on a set salary index and length of employment. However, those who are unemployed must report to the Directorate of Labour once a month to reaffirm their status of unemployment and that they are actively searching for employment or unemployment benefits could be revoked. Under the Icelandic Labour Law, employees must be given a notice period of termination that can range from 12 days to six months and is determined by the length of previous employment under the same employer.