-Table of Contents-
Foreword
Contributors
Chapter 1. Unemployment Insurance in Asia: Development and Outlook (Deok Soon
Hwang)
Chapter 2. Unemployment Benefits in Korea (Deok Soon Hwang)
Chapter 3. Unemployment Insurance in China (Jun Liao)
Chapter 4. Unemployment Insurance in Taiwan (Yeun-wen Ku and Yu-fang Chang)
Chapter 5. Unemployment Insurance in Japan (Shinichi Oka)
Chapter 6. Unemployment Insurance in Thailand (Sopin Jirakiattikul)
Chapter 7. Unemployment Insurance in Vietnam (Quang Tuan Luu)
Chapter 8. Unemployment Insurance in India (Rakkee Thimothy and S.K. Sasikumar)
Chapter 9. Conclusion: Comparative Evaluation ofUnemployment Insurance in Asia
and
Implications (Deok Soon Hwang)

With the exception of Japan, which industrialized relatively early, most Asian countries were slow to achieve development compared to their Western counterparts. Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, known as the Newly Industrialized Economies (NIES) of Asia, followed the example of Japan. China and India, the two major players among BRICs nations, have recently displayed an astonishing rate of growth as have Southeast Asian ASEAN members. Nonetheless, because these countries were slow to industrialize, the pace at which they developed welfare programs such as social insurance were more gradual than the West. The introduction of unemployment insurance, among many other social insurance programs, has been particularly sluggish among Asian countries. Social Security Programs Throughout the World: Asia and the Pacific 2008 provides a summary of social security programs in countries around the world. This publication has reported that Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam are the only Asian countries to be operating unemployment insurance programs. The aim of this study is to introduce the labor market structures and social protection programs for the unemployed in Asian countries currently operating unemployment insurance, to review the performance of each program, and to provide directions for future development. Included in the list is India, which operates an alternative program for protecting the unemployed known as the Employment Guarantee Program. This study aims to be of assistance not only to researchers and institutions interested in unemployment insurance and Asian social security programs, but also to trade unions, employer associations, and Asian governments.