Compulsory social insurance of workers in the Yugoslav kingdom, 1922–1939

Abstract

Тhe paper analyses the implementation of workers’ insurance in the Yugoslav kingdom from 1922 to 1939. The Law on Workers’ Insurance of 1922 provided the legal frame not only for sickness, accident, infirmity, old age and death, but also for unemployment. According to the Law, all persons who permanently or temporarily lease their physical or mental labour force were to be insured regardless of their gender, age and citizenship. Based on the comparison of the number of workers covered by the legal obligation of insurance and the number of actually insured workers, the real scope of the Law on Workers’ Insurance can be assessed. 

Summary: The Law on Workers’ Insurance of 1922 regulated workers’ insurance unifiedly on the territory of Yugoslav kingdom. The Law prescribed mandatory insurance of labor force in case of illness, accident, exhaustion, old age, death, and unemployment. According to the Law, the implementation of insurance in case of illness and accident began on July 1, 1922. The implementation of insurance in case of old age, exhaustion and death was postponed by the Law until 1925, while for the insurance in case of unemployment it was envisaged by the Law to be regulated later on. As agricultural workers, temporary employees, persons in correctional facilities and penitentiaries were exempted from the insurance obligation under the Law, a large number of workers was left without compulsory insurance. Some types of insurance had not been implemented in the manner prescribed by the law. The implementation of oldage, exhaustion and death insurance began only in 1937, and unemployment insurance was developed on a completely different basis, within the public employment service, and included only a small number of workers. The number
of insured workers in relation to the total number of inhabitants was relatively small: in 1922 it amounted to only 3.81% of the population, and by 1939 it had increased to 5.08% of the population. However, the total number of the insured was even higher because compulsory insurance also included family members of the insured workers. There are no complete data on the number
of dependent family members covered by the insurance funds and institutions, but based on the existing ones, it is reasonably estimated that on the eve of the Second World War about 10% of the population of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was insured in accordance with the Law on Workers’ Insurance.