REDUCE OR RATIONALIZE SOCIAL-SECURITY CONTRIBUTIONS TO INCREASE EMPLOYMENT

Social charges (employers' contributions to social security) are often blamed for negatively affecting employment since, being based on wage s, they increase labour costs. Before considering the possibility of r educing these charges, the author examines their incidence and nature; their influence on total labour costs and on the structure of employm ent as well as on capital-labour substitution; the consequences of alt ernative methods of financing social security; and the question of coh erence between financing methods and the two major types of solidarity - national and occupational - upon which social security relies.