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> Notably, having been an entrepreneur puts you in one of those gaps. Do you mind expanding? Is this something to do with having been ‘unemployed’ while workin

> Notably, having been an entrepreneur puts you in one of those gaps. Do you mind expanding? Is this something to do with having been ‘unemployed’ while working on your company?

skrebbel 9y ago
No. Only when you're an employee somewhere part of your taxes are marked as "paying premium for social security". But as an entrepreneur, I'm only covered for health, not unemployment. Note that many entrepreneurs agree with this policy: they rather pay as little tax/premium/whatever and just sort things out themselves. The thing that bothers me is that I can't even choose to pay the same state unemployment premium as my employees are forced to pay. But when you're not entitled to unemployment money (also happens if you've never had a job more than x months in a row), you're not entitled to all the extra benefits you get when trying to get out of unemployment. Eg you don't get day care support for kids because you're home all day, right. No matter that you're trying to reeducate yourself to get a new job - you're not costing the state any money so it's your problem. However if you are entitled to unemployment benefits and then working on reschooling yourself, then you get day care support for your kids as if you had a job. NL is very American in that respect. The social security is designed from the perspective of the treasury, not the people's well being.
- bjelkeman-again 9y ago
  There are some similar issues in Sweden as well. If you are unemployed you can't study at the university without loosing your unemployment benefit, so you stick with the benefit instead of learning to get a better job. This is really counter productive in many cases. This is not specific to entrepreneurs, but nevertheless quite strange. I can see that it could be abused, but I can also see that one could come up with a solution for it.

> Notably, having been an entrepreneur puts you in one of those gaps. Do you mind expanding? Is this something to do with having been ‘unemployed’ while working on your company?

skrebbel 9y ago

No. Only when you're an employee somewhere part of your taxes are marked as "paying premium for social security". But as an entrepreneur, I'm only covered for health, not unemployment. Note that many entrepreneurs agree with this policy: they rather pay as little tax/premium/whatever and just sort things out themselves. The thing that bothers me is that I can't even choose to pay the same state unemployment premium as my employees are forced to pay. But when you're not entitled to unemployment money (also happens if you've never had a job more than x months in a row), you're not entitled to all the extra benefits you get when trying to get out of unemployment. Eg you don't get day care support for kids because you're home all day, right. No matter that you're trying to reeducate yourself to get a new job - you're not costing the state any money so it's your problem. However if you are entitled to unemployment benefits and then working on reschooling yourself, then you get day care support for your kids as if you had a job. NL is very American in that respect. The social security is designed from the perspective of the treasury, not the people's well being.

bjelkeman-again 9y ago
There are some similar issues in Sweden as well. If you are unemployed you can't study at the university without loosing your unemployment benefit, so you stick with the benefit instead of learning to get a better job. This is really counter productive in many cases. This is not specific to entrepreneurs, but nevertheless quite strange. I can see that it could be abused, but I can also see that one could come up with a solution for it.