Which would be worrying, if it weren't a load of utter garbage.
IMF research has shown that the UK is towards the bottom of the list of generous countries when it comes to the value of their benefits. In fact it is downright grippy. Unless of course you are talking about the benefits paid to members of the royal family or the House of Aristocrats.
Here is the truth.
Country
|
Gross Replacement Rate year 1
|
Ranking
|
||
Netherlands
|
0.7
|
1
|
||
Switzerland
|
0.687
|
2
|
||
Sweden
|
0.685
|
3
|
||
Portugal
|
0.65
|
4
|
||
Spain
|
0.635
|
5
|
||
Norway
|
0.624
|
6
|
||
Algeria
|
0.612
|
7
|
||
Taiwan
|
0.6
|
8
|
||
Ukraine
|
0.56
|
9
|
||
Italy
|
0.527
|
10
|
||
Denmark
|
0.521
|
11
|
||
Russia
|
0.505
|
12
|
||
Tunisia
|
0.5
|
13
|
||
Finland
|
0.494
|
14
|
||
France
|
0.479
|
15
|
||
Bulgaria
|
0.473
|
16
|
||
Canada
|
0.459
|
17
|
||
Romania
|
0.45
|
18
|
||
Hong Kong
|
0.41
|
19
|
||
Austria
|
0.398
|
20
|
||
Belgium
|
0.373
|
21
|
||
Argentina
|
0.354
|
22
|
||
Germany
|
0.353
|
23
|
||
Greece
|
0.346
|
24
|
||
Azerbaijan
|
0.338
|
25
|
||
Egypt
|
0.329
|
26
|
||
Venezuela
|
0.325
|
27
|
||
Belarus
|
0.313
|
28
|
||
Israel
|
0.307
|
29
|
||
Japan
|
0.289
|
30
|
||
United States
|
0.275
|
31
|
||
Kyrgyzstan
|
0.255
|
32
|
||
New Zealand
|
0.254
|
33
|
||
Latvia
|
0.253
|
34
|
||
India
|
0.25
|
38
|
||
Korea, South
|
0.25
|
37
|
||
Uruguay
|
0.25
|
36
|
||
Uzbekistan
|
0.25
|
35
|
||
Ireland
|
0.238
|
39
|
||
Hungary
|
0.235
|
40
|
||
Poland
|
0.226
|
41
|
||
Czech Republic
|
0.225
|
42
|
||
Australia
|
0.21
|
43
|
||
Turkey
|
0.206
|
44
|
||
Albania
|
0.202
|
45
|
||
United Kingdom
|
0.189
|
46
|
||
Brazil
|
0.152
|
47
|
||
Estonia
|
0.132
|
48
|
||
Lithuania
|
0.117
|
49
|
||
Chile
|
0.115
|
50
|
||
Georgia
|
0.09
|
51
|
||
Look, there is the good old UK, just under Albania. Didn't someone once say that Scotland without England to look after it would be just like Albania? So, if they were right, we can look forward to a little step up.
Data taken from: Mariya Aleksynska and Martin Schindler
(2011) Labor Market Regulations in Low-, Middle- and High-Income Countries: A
New Panel Database. IMF Working Paper.
Iain Duncan Smith is bent out of shape about it. He looked positively ill as he decried the Council of Europe (not the EU: this has 47 members) for criticising the UK for its niggardliness.
Nothing serious I trust.. It doesn't pay to be sick here. Better off in Uzbekistan.
Update: Niko drew my attention to this story about the way Finland deals with redundancies and unemployment. Oh to live in a country like that.
Update: Niko drew my attention to this story about the way Finland deals with redundancies and unemployment. Oh to live in a country like that.
