SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security is both a concept as well as a system. It represents basically a system of protection of individuals who are in need of such protectionby the State as an agent of the society. Such protection is relevant incontingencies such as retirement, resignation, retrenchment, death, disablementwhich are beyond the control of the individual members of the Society. Men are born differently, they think differently and act differently. State as an agent of the society has an important mandate to harmonise such differences through a protective cover to the poor, the weak, the deprived and the disadvantaged. The concept of social security is now generally understood as meaning protection provided by the society to its members through a series of public measures against the economic and social distress that otherwise is caused by the stoppage or substantial reduction of earnings resulting from sickness, maternity , employment injury, occupational diseases, unemployment, invalidity, old age and death. According to ILO Convention on the Social Security ( minimum standards) adopted in 1952,following are the eight components of Social Security: 1.Medical care 2.Sickness benefits 3.Old age benefits 4.Employment injury benefits 5.Family benefits 6.Maternity benefits. 7.Invalidity benefits 8.Survivors benefits A strategy to promote economic growth must therefore be accompanied by efforts to protect the most disadvantaged groups in the population by effective, efficiently targeted and financially sound cash transfer schemes. An efficient targeting of existing programs can also promote economic growth by containing fiscal costs and promoting macroeconomic stability. The link between poverty, low levels of education and low health outcomes implies that investment to improve the health status and education levels of the poorest groups will also be critical for reducing poverty. Investment in human capital is a long-term poverty alleviation strategy that would eliminate on of he main causes of poverty in Romania and have a positive impact on economic growth. The returns to investments in education and health would be made all the more significant by labor market policies that are conducive to economic growth.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Most unemployed are secondary school graduates and that having asecondary and lower level of education (relative to college education) reduces the likelihood of a worker's being employed. These findings indicate that the current secondary school system may not be adequately preparing individuals for the labor market, perhaps because of its narrow focus and specialized programs. Thus, improvements in the quality of education should also focus on increasing the general focus education in basic education and in secondary school in order to make the curriculum responsive to emerging labor market conditions. Develop a more progressive tax system. A progressive transfer and investment system should be accompanied by a progressive tax structure. The tax structure in Romania appears very progressive, but the Government could still raise revenues without worsening the distribution of income by taxing rent, petrol, tobacco, and public transport. The Government could also raise revenue from taxing pensions without altering the distribution of income. However, taxing pension income should be phased in the longterm when income sources can be better audited and monitored.