LABOUR AND SOCIAL JUSTICE SOCIAL PROTECTION REFORM IN GEORGIA Principles and Perspectives from Germany Remi Maier-Rigaud, Simona Helmsmüller May 2022 The healthcare system should be simpli­fied by reducing out-of-pocket payments and scrapping benefit ceilings. Public fi ­nancial resources need to be continuous­ly increased in order to make the system truly universal and to provide all neces­sary medical treatments to the entire population. An unemployment insurance based on mandatory contributions should be es­tablished, which grants income replace­ment benefits for a defined period of time in case of unemployment. For longer periods of unemployment, peo­ple would need to transfer to the TSA. This needs to be accompanied by a mini­mum wage policy, which effectively eradicates in-work poverty. The three-pillared pension system should be reformed by strengthening the sec­ond, social insurance pillar. Moving this pillar from defined contribution to a PAYG benefit scheme would mean pay ­ing old-age pensions immediately out of current contributions, which should be used as a selling-point and pull factor for formal employment.