The Brazilian government is working to improve the management and control of its Unemployment Insurance Programme. The focus is on increasing employability through the National Programme for Access to Technical Education and Employment (Pronatec) and the reduction of errors and fraud that impact the insurance budget. Today, there is a risk that some workers may be taking advantage of the programme’s rules, which entitle workers to the benefit with only six months of work, allowing ill-intentioned workers to alternate periods of employment with and without a contract (in the latter case, receiving unemployment insurance). The European Union is currently experiencing a period of high unemployment - nearly 26.9 million people in 2013, which requires from the European authorities considerable efforts to manage unemployment insurance installments paid to the population. In this context, Brazilian technicians believe that best practices in European countries can be of great value to the improvement of control and management actions currently used in Brazil. This action includes a study by a foreign expert in European Union countries. The study will collect the following information: a descriptive table of the evolution and main characteristics of unemployment; how the funding of the unemployment protection system was structured; volume of annual expenditures and the number of beneficiaries; main measures taken to mitigate the increasing number of workers who demand such benefits; how these measures are monitored and evaluated; main measures employed to mitigate the risk of fraud and opportunistic behaviour; how these measures are monitored and evaluated; and best management practices and existing controls. Based on this survey, the TCU and a Brazilian expert will conduct a comparative analysis of the points investigated in selected EU countries with respect to the control of the Unemployment Insurance Programme adopted by Brazil. This analysis will provide input for and qualify control actions (supervision, monitoring and evaluation) performed by the TCU and which regularly support the improvement of work and employment-related issues in Brazil. The Study of EU countries and the comparative analysis with the Unemployment System in Brazil will be presented at a seminar to be held in Brazil and in a publication to be issued by the TCU.
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