Give the definition of social protection of the population. Definition of social protection of the population

Social protection population- this is one of the most important directions of the social policy of the state, which consists in establishing and maintaining the socially necessary material and social position of all members of society.

Sometimes social protection is interpreted more narrowly: as providing a certain level of income for those segments of the population who, for whatever reason, cannot provide for their own existence: the unemployed, the disabled, the sick, orphans, the elderly, single mothers, families with many children. Basic principles of social protection:

  • humanity;
  • targeting;
  • complexity;
  • ensuring the rights and freedoms of the individual.

The system of social protection of the population and its structure

Social security system is a set of legislative acts, measures, as well as organizations that ensure the implementation of social protection measures for the population, support for socially vulnerable segments of the population.

It includes:

1. Social Security originated in Russia in the 1920s. and meant the creation of a state system of material support and services for the elderly and disabled citizens, as well as families with children at the expense of the so-called public consumption funds. This category is essentially identical to the category of social protection, but the latter applies to a market economy.

In addition to pensions (for old age, disability, etc.), social security included benefits for temporary disability and childbirth, for caring for a child under the age of one, assistance to families in the maintenance and upbringing of children (free or on preferential terms, nurseries, kindergartens, boarding schools , pioneer camps, etc.), family allowances, maintenance of the disabled in special organizations (nursing homes, etc.), free or concessional prosthetic care, provision of vehicles for the disabled, vocational training for the disabled, and various benefits for the families of the disabled. During the transition to the market, the social security system largely ceased to fulfill its functions, but some of its elements entered into modern system social protection of the population.

2. - the provision of social benefits and services to citizens without taking into account the labor contribution and testing of means on the basis of the principle of distribution of these benefits according to the needs of the available public resources. In our country, social guarantees include:

  • guaranteed free medical care;
  • general accessibility and free education;
  • the minimum wage;
  • the minimum amount of pensions, scholarships;
  • social pensions (disabled since childhood; children with disabilities; disabled people without work experience; children who have lost one or both parents; persons over 65 (men) and 60 (women) years who do not have work experience);
  • allowances at the birth of a child, for the period of caring for a child until he reaches the age of 1.5 years, up to 16 years;
  • ritual allowance for burial and some others.

Since January 1, 2002, the amount of benefits related to the birth of a child has been increased. Thus, the amount of a one-time allowance for the birth of a child increased from 1.5 thousand rubles to 4.5 thousand rubles and in 2006 - up to 8000 rubles, the monthly allowance for the period of parental leave until the child reaches the age of one and a half years from 200 up to 500 rubles, and in 2006 - up to 700 rubles. This allowance provided 25% of the living wage for an able-bodied person. The amount of the monthly allowance for a child under 16 years of age has not been revised and amounts to 70 rubles. Its ratio with the subsistence minimum for a child was 3.0% in 2004. In Moscow and some other regions, this allowance in 2006 increased to 150 rubles.

Variety social guarantees are social benefits. They represent a system of public guarantees provided to certain groups of the population (disabled people, war veterans, labor veterans, etc.). In 2005, benefits in kind were replaced by monetary compensations for these categories of the population. Since January 1, 2005, the preferential category of citizens has the right to use social package and the right to receive monthly cash payments. The cost of the social package is set at 450 rubles. It includes travel in suburban transport, free drug provision, sanatorium treatment and travel to the place of sanatorium treatment. The law provides that from January 2006 beneficiaries will be able to choose between a social package and receiving the appropriate amount of money.

From January 1, 2006, monthly cash payments in accordance with the law were established in the following amounts: Patriotic War- 2000 rubles; participants of the Second World War - 1500 rubles; combat veterans and a number of other categories of beneficiaries - 1,100 rubles.

Persons who worked during the Second World War at air defense facilities, the construction of fortifications, naval bases, airfields and other military facilities, family members of those who died or died war invalids, participants in the Great Patriotic War and combat veterans, will receive 600 rubles a month.

Disabled persons with a third degree of restriction of labor activity are paid 1,400 rubles a month; second degree - 1000 rubles; first degree - 800 rubles; disabled children will be paid 1000 rubles. Disabled people who do not have a degree of restriction on labor activity, with the exception of disabled children, receive 500 rubles a month.

Social insurance— protection of the economically active population from social risks on the basis of collective solidarity in compensation for damage. The main social risks associated with the loss of ability to work, work and, accordingly, income, are illness, old age, unemployment, motherhood, accident, work injury, occupational disease, death of the breadwinner. The social insurance system is financed from special extra-budgetary funds formed at the expense of contributions from employers and employees, as well as state subsidies. There are two forms of social insurance - compulsory (supported by the state from its funds) and voluntary (in the absence of state assistance). Citizens are supported, first of all, through cash payments (pensions and benefits for sickness, old age, unemployment, loss of a breadwinner, etc.), as well as by financing the services of healthcare organizations, vocational training and others related to rehabilitation.

Social support(assistance) is provided to socially vulnerable groups of the population who, for one reason or another, are unable to secure an income for themselves. Assistance is provided through both cash and in-kind payments (free meals, clothing) and is funded by general tax revenues. Means testing is usually required to receive social assistance. Assistance is provided to those people whose incomes are below the minimum living standards, and is an essential element of the anti-poverty policy, ensuring a minimum guaranteed income, as a realization of the right to life.

Social support is not limited to material assistance. It also includes measures in the form of assistance and services provided to individuals or groups of the population by social services to overcome life's difficulties, maintain social status, and adapt in society.

The activities of social services for social support, the provision of social, medical, pedagogical, legal services and material assistance, social adaptation and rehabilitation of citizens in difficult life situation formed into a separate branch of the social sphere - social service.

The system of social service institutions in Russia is developing at a very rapid pace. During the period 1998-2004, the total number of social service institutions increased by one third. At the same time, the number of institutions for the elderly and the disabled increased by more than 1.5 times compared with 1985, and by 18% compared with 1998. Number of centers for social assistance to families and children in 1998-2004 increased by 2 times, social rehabilitation centers - by 2.5 times. There are 25 rehabilitation centers for young people with disabilities, 17 geriatric centers. New types of social service institutions have appeared: crisis centers for women, so far the only crisis center for men, crisis departments for girls.

Work aimed at helping, supporting and protecting people, and, above all, socially weak sections of society, is called social work.

object social work are people in need of outside help: the elderly, pensioners, the disabled, the seriously ill, children; people who got into
I wish for a life situation: the unemployed, drug addicts, teenagers who have fallen into bad company, single-parent families, convicts and those who have served their sentences, refugees and migrants, etc.

Subjects of social work- those organizations and people who carry out this work. This is the state as a whole, carrying out social policy through government bodies social protection. These are public organizations: the Russian Association of Social Services, the Association of Social Pedagogues and social workers etc. This charity organisations and relief societies such as the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

The main subject of social work are people engaged in it professionally or on a voluntary basis. There are about half a million professional social workers (that is, people with the appropriate education and diploma) all over the world (in Russia there are several tens of thousands). The main part of social work is performed by non-professionals, either as a result of circumstances or because of conviction and a sense of duty.

Society is interested in increasing effectiveness of social work. However, it is difficult to define and measure it. Efficiency is understood as the ratio of the results of activities and the costs necessary to achieve this result. Efficiency in social sphere is a complex category that consists of goals, results, costs and conditions of social activity. The result is the final result of any activity in relation to its purpose. It can be positive or negative. In social work, the result is the satisfaction of the needs of its objects, clients of social services, and on this basis the general improvement of the social situation in society. The criteria for the effectiveness of social work at the macro level can be indicators of the financial situation of the family (person), life expectancy, the level and structure of morbidity, homelessness, drug addiction, crime, etc.

The problem of the limits of social assistance to citizens is closely related to the criterion of effectiveness. As with the implementation of income policy, it is necessary to take into account the possible negative consequences of a massive social support: the appearance of dependency, passivity, unwillingness to make decisions on your own and solve your problems. There may be negative developments in the social sphere (for example, active support for single mothers may result in a decrease in the marriage rate and, ultimately, the birth rate).

a system of economic, organizational, administrative, legal measures carried out by society, the state and others social institutions and designed to prevent adverse effects on people from social environment or mitigate the effects of such impacts. In some cases, these measures ensure the safety of a person from criminal encroachments or legal protection from administrative arbitrariness, etc. In other cases, material, legal or other assistance. Such assistance is cash social benefits, thanks to which a person is protected from hunger, assistance in providing citizens with housing, support for entrepreneurs in organizing and running a business, legal assistance etc. Thus, social support and assistance can be considered as integral parts of the social protection mechanism. The idea found in the literature that self-defense is a type of social protection cannot be recognized as correct. Social protection is protection that comes precisely from society, a large or small human community and the institutions that exist in it. The range of areas in which social protection is carried out has expanded with the development of civilization. The most important feature of a socially developed state is the widest possible range of social protection and the availability of effective mechanisms to ensure it. The range of areas of social protection covers protection against: violations of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens; criminal encroachments on the person and property; administrative arbitrariness; hunger and poverty (social protection includes the provision of material assistance to those who, due to objective reasons, cannot independently provide for their basic necessities of life); threat to be left without medical care, without receiving a socially acceptable level of education, etc. As can be seen, social protection is far from being reduced to the provision of material assistance, as is often imagined. Mechanisms for ensuring social protection include: a system legal regulations appropriate direction, law enforcement agencies, state and municipal bodies designed to provide material and organizational assistance to those in need, trade unions and other public organizations that protect the rights and interests of various groups and categories of the population, free press, an institutionalized system for providing citizens with free and preferential medical and educational services.

Social protection of the population is an important component of the social policy of any state. For the first time, the concept of “social protection” was officially enshrined abroad - first in the law on social protection, adopted as part of the policy of the new course of F.D. Roosevelt in 1935, and later, in the 1940s, in the documents of the International Labor Organization. In 1952, the ILO adopted Convention No. 102, containing the whole concept of social protection. It proclaims the right of all members of society to social assistance, regardless of the length of service and the amount of paid insurance premiums. This Convention also identifies nine areas in which this assistance should be provided: medical care, sickness benefits, unemployment benefits, old-age pensions, employment injury pensions, childbirth benefits, family benefits, disability benefits, survivor benefits. The Convention fixes the basic principle of equality in the provision of social assistance - all states that have ratified the Convention undertake to provide on their territory to citizens of any other ILO member state, as well as refugees and stateless persons, the same rights as their citizens regarding the types of social security. Countries that have not reached the required level of economic development and the system of medical care for the population are given the opportunity to ratify the Convention, at initial stage temporarily excluding some aspects, when justifying the reasons for such an exception in the annual reports submitted to the ILO. Subsequently, the concept of the ILO was reflected in the documents European Union: in the European Code of Social Security (1968), the Charter of Fundamental Social Rights of Workers, the Green (1992) and White (1994) Books on European Social Policy, etc.

In the domestic economic literature, the concept of social protection appeared with the beginning of Russia's transition from a planned economy to market relations, but so far it has not received a final definition. This is due to both the relatively short history of the existence of this category in Russia and the complexity of the economic and social processes taking place in our country. As a result, various authors of the content this concept was interpreted, as a rule, depending on the subjective understanding of the socio-economic phenomena and institutions that should be covered by this category, and by now a significant number of approaches to its definition have been formed. Thus, some authors consider social protection as an activity of the state to ensure the development of the individual, as well as support for low-income groups of the population. Others - as a system of guarantees that ensure the observance of the most important human rights to a decent standard of living. Some researchers generally ignore the concept of social protection, remaining within the traditional categories of "social security" and "social insurance".


As an economic category, social protection is a system of distributive relations, in the process of which, at the expense of part national income public funds are formed and used Money material support and service of citizens; it is the concern of the state for a person who has lost, in whole or in part, the ability to work; the activities of the state to implement the goals and priority tasks of social policy, to implement a set of legislatively fixed economic, legal and social guarantees that ensure that each member of society respects social rights, including a decent standard of living. However, in order to identify the significance of this area directly for citizens, it seems more appropriate to focus on identifying the essence of the category "social protection" in the narrow sense.

V.V. Antropov believes that “the system of social protection should be understood as a set of institutions and measures aimed at protecting individuals and social groups from social risks that can lead to a complete or partial loss of economic independence and social well-being”;

According to A.N. Averina, social protection "represents a system of measures to comply with social rights and social guarantees, create the conditions necessary for the normal life of people, reduce the negative impact of factors that reduce their quality of life";

T.K. Mironova proposes to consider social protection as “the activity of state and non-state bodies and organizations to implement measures of an economic, legal, organizational nature that are aimed at preventing or mitigating negative consequences for a person and his family upon the occurrence of certain socially significant circumstances (including social risks), as well as for the preservation acceptable level their material and social well-being”.

Social risk is understood as an expected probable event in a person's life, the onset of which leads to a permanent or temporary loss of the ability to work. The main types of social risks include: illness, temporary disability, injury during the labor process, occupational disease, motherhood, disability, old age, loss of a breadwinner, recognition as unemployed, death of the insured person or disabled members of his family who are dependent on him.

This approach most fully reflects the category of "social protection" in relation to modern Russian realities. It is the existence of social risks that represent a negative impact environment, necessitates the development, implementation and improvement of measures of social protection of the population.

In federal regulations legal acts Russian Federation the definition of the concept of "social protection" is fixed in relation to specific categories of citizens - its recipients or is expressed by listing specific targeted measures, but there is no generalized interpretation of this category. So, for example, according to federal law dated November 24, 1995 No. 181-FZ “On the social protection of disabled people in the Russian Federation”, “social protection of disabled people is a system of state-guaranteed economic, legal measures and social support measures that provide conditions for disabled people to overcome, replace (compensate) life restrictions and aimed at creation of equal opportunities with other citizens to participate in the life of society”.

Summarizing all of the above, it seems possible to conclude that the meaning of social protection is to reduce the negative impact of factors that reduce the quality of life of the population, mitigate the negative consequences caused by the onset of social risks, and the social protection system is a set of institutions and activities aimed at implementing these areas. .

Social protection of the population performs certain functions. Globally, they can be grouped into the following four main functional categories: preventive, economic, rehabilitative and institutional. The preventive function of social protection consists in carrying out organizational, technical and medical measures that allow protecting the health and working capacity of a person. The economic function is associated with the reimbursement of lost income to a person, which is due to the onset of such social risks as temporary or permanent loss of ability to work and health, as well as compensation for additional costs associated with treatment and disability. The rehabilitation function provides for the medical, professional and social rehabilitation of a person, carried out with the aim of restoring lost health and ability to work, as well as promoting the adaptation of socially vulnerable groups of the population to the conditions of a market economy. Institutional function means maintaining institutions and ensuring the functioning of the mechanisms of social protection of the population.

Petukhova Irina Vladimirovna,
postgraduate student of the Russian University of Economics G.V. Plekhanov

Labor Economics | (39) UEKS, 3/2012 | Environmental economics

Annotation: The article analyzes the concept of "social protection", considers various approaches to its definition, notes the main elements necessary to build an effective system of social protection of the population.

Key concepts: social protection, social risks, system of social protection of the population

Abstract: In the article the concept of “social protection” is analyzed, different approaches to its definition are examined, basic elements, necessary for building an effective social protection system, are noted.

keywords: social protection, social risks, social protection system

Social protection of the population is an important component of the social policy of any state. For the first time, the concept of “social protection” was officially enshrined abroad - first in the law on social protection, adopted as part of the policy of the new course of F.D. Roosevelt in 1935, and later, in the 1940s, in the documents of the International Labor Organization. In 1952, the ILO adopted Convention No. 102, containing the whole concept of social protection. It proclaims the right of all members of society to social assistance, regardless of the length of service and the amount of paid insurance premiums. This Convention also identifies nine areas in which this assistance should be provided: medical care, sickness benefits, unemployment benefits, old-age pensions, employment injury pensions, childbirth benefits, family benefits, disability benefits, survivor benefits. The Convention fixes the basic principle of equality in the provision of social assistance - all states that have ratified the Convention undertake to provide on their territory to citizens of any other ILO member state, as well as refugees and stateless persons, the same rights as their citizens regarding the types of social security. Countries that have not reached the necessary level of development of the economy and the system of medical care for the population are given the opportunity to ratify the Convention, at the initial stage, temporarily excluding certain aspects, while justifying the reasons for such an exception in the annual reports submitted to the ILO. Subsequently, the concept of the ILO was reflected in the documents of the European Union: in the European Code of Social Security (1968), the Charter of Fundamental Social Rights of Workers, the Green (1992) and White (1994) books on European social policy, etc.

In the domestic economic literature, the concept of social protection appeared with the beginning of Russia's transition from a planned economy to market relations, but so far it has not received a final definition. This is due to both the relatively short history of the existence of this category in Russia and the complexity of the economic and social processes taking place in our country. As a result, the content of this concept was interpreted by various authors, as a rule, depending on the subjective understanding of socio-economic phenomena and institutions that should be covered by this category, and by now a significant number of approaches to its definition have been formed. Thus, some authors consider social protection as an activity of the state to ensure the development of the individual, as well as support for low-income groups of the population. Others - as a system of guarantees that ensure the observance of the most important human rights to a decent standard of living. Some researchers generally ignore the concept of social protection, remaining within the traditional categories of "social security" and "social insurance".

As an economic category, social protection is a system of distributive relations, in the course of which public funds of material support and services for citizens are formed and used at the expense of a part of the national income; it is the concern of the state for a person who has lost, in whole or in part, the ability to work; the activities of the state to implement the goals and priority tasks of social policy, to implement a set of legally fixed economic, legal and social guarantees that ensure that each member of society respects social rights, including an adequate standard of living. However, in order to identify the significance of this area directly for citizens, it seems more appropriate to focus on identifying the essence of the category "social protection" in the narrow sense.

  • V.V. Antropov believes that “the system of social protection should be understood as a set of institutions and measures aimed at protecting individuals and social groups from social risks that can lead to a complete or partial loss of economic independence and social well-being”;
  • according to A.N. Averina, social protection "represents a system of measures to comply with social rights and social guarantees, create the conditions necessary for the normal life of people, reduce the negative impact of factors that reduce their quality of life";
  • T.K. Mironova proposes to consider social protection as “the activity of state and non-state bodies and organizations to implement measures of an economic, legal, organizational nature that are aimed at preventing or mitigating negative consequences for a person and his family in the event of the occurrence of certain socially significant circumstances (including social risks). ), as well as to maintain an acceptable level of their material and social well-being” .

Social risk is understood as an expected probable event in a person's life, the onset of which leads to a permanent or temporary loss of the ability to work. The main types of social risks include: illness, temporary disability, injury during the labor process, occupational disease, motherhood, disability, old age, loss of a breadwinner, recognition as unemployed, death of the insured person or disabled members of his family who are dependent on him.

This approach most fully reflects the category of "social protection" in relation to modern Russian realities. It is the existence of social risks, which are the negative impact of the environment, that necessitates the development, implementation and improvement of social protection measures for the population.

In the federal regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation, the definition of the concept of "social protection" is fixed in relation to specific categories of citizens - its recipients or is expressed by listing specific targeted measures, however, there is no generalized interpretation of this category. So, for example, according to the Federal Law of November 24, 1995 No. 181-FZ “On the social protection of disabled people in the Russian Federation”, “social protection of disabled people is a system of state-guaranteed economic, legal measures and social support measures that provide conditions for disabled people to overcome, replace ( compensation) restrictions on life activities and aimed at creating equal opportunities for him to participate in the life of society with other citizens.

Summarizing all of the above, it seems possible to conclude that the meaning of social protection is to reduce the negative impact of factors that reduce the quality of life of the population, mitigate the negative consequences caused by the onset of social risks, and the social protection system is a set of institutions and activities aimed at implementing these areas. .

Social protection of the population performs certain functions. Globally, they can be grouped into the following four main functional categories: preventive, economic, rehabilitative and institutional. The preventive function of social protection consists in carrying out organizational, technical and medical measures that allow protecting the health and working capacity of a person. The economic function is associated with the reimbursement of lost income to a person, which is due to the onset of such social risks as temporary or permanent loss of ability to work and health, as well as compensation for additional costs associated with treatment and disability. The rehabilitation function provides for the medical, professional and social rehabilitation of a person, carried out with the aim of restoring lost health and ability to work, as well as promoting the adaptation of socially vulnerable groups of the population to the conditions of a market economy. Institutional function means maintaining institutions and ensuring the functioning of the mechanisms of social protection of the population.

Along with the main functional areas, the institutional framework for the social protection of the population is made up of certain principles, the main of which are:

  • the principle of multi-subjectivity - society, state authorities, local governments, political parties act as subjects of social protection, public associations and organizations, professional associations, organizations, enterprises, institutions, employers;
  • the principle of solidarity of subjects of social protection, due to the distribution of resources between the subjects for its implementation;
  • the principle of universality of measures in the system of social protection, since they apply to all members of society and citizens of the state and involve the provision of conditions for a person's access to work, education, health, culture, physical culture, sports, tourism, sanatorium-resort sphere, housing and communal and other objects of social infrastructure and types social services;
  • the principle of continuity - social protection should be carried out throughout a person's life;
  • the principle of differentiation (targeting), meaning the specific focus of social protection measures depending on the level of economic independence of a person, the degree of his ability to work, income level and other factors.

It should be noted that the implementation of all four designated functions and the observance of the above principles ensures the comprehensiveness of measures, which is the basis for building an effective system of social protection of the population in the state. Moreover, despite the fact that the development and strengthening of economic and rehabilitation measures is of great importance in the current conditions, it is necessary to pay no less attention to measures to prevent the possibility of social risks, since it is the effectiveness of the latter that guarantees the well-being of the population, the growth of the level and quality of life of citizens. , as well as, subsequently, reducing the costs of the state in this area.

Bibliographic list

  • Social protection in the countries of the European Union. History, organization, financing, problems / V.V. Antropov. - M .: CJSC "Publishing House" Economics ", 2006. - p. nine.
  • ILO Convention No. 102. Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 [Electronic resource] // International Labor Organization, 1952. URL: http://www.ilocarib.org.tt/projects/cariblex/conventions_14.shtml (Accessed: 11/25/2011) .
  • Yudin V.P. Social protection: concept, essence, boundaries: Study method. Benefit. – Kazan: Kazan.state. technol. un-t, 1995. - p. nineteen.
  • Babich A.M., Egorov E.N., Zhiltsov E.N. Economics of social insurance: a course of lectures. - M.: TEIS, 1998. - p. 7.
  • Suleimanova G.V. Social security and social insurance. - M.: Expert Bureau, 1997. - p. 6.
  • Hare O.V. Economic fundamentals social work: Textbook. - Vladivostok: Far Eastern University Press, 2003.
  • Social protection in the countries of the European Union. History, organization, financing, problems / V.V. Antropov. - M .: CJSC "Publishing House" Economics ", 2006. - p. eleven.
  • Averin A.N. State system social protection of the population: Tutorial. - M .: Publishing house of the RAGS, 2007. - p. 3.
  • Mironova T.K. To the question of the definition of the concept of "social protection" // labor law. – 2008. – № 3.

The term "social protection" ("social security") was first used in legislative act United States in the "Social Security Act" in 1935, which in turn stimulated the development of programs to help the elderly, the disabled and the unemployed. Subsequently, the scope of this definition was significantly expanded during the development and adoption of ILO conventions and recommendations on social insurance and security, minimum income guarantees "working in the event of disability, as well as in the field of labor protection and wages. It provided a legal justification for a new institution for the United States of compulsory insurance in case of old age, death, disability and unemployment.

This term organically fit into the apparatus of scientists and practitioners, as it simply and intelligibly expressed the essence of supporting socially vulnerable segments of the population.

In the future, the scope of this definition has been significantly expanded. This was facilitated, among other things, by the development of conventions and recommendations of the International Labor Organization, the World Health Organization, the International Social Security Association, dedicated to social insurance and social assistance, guaranteeing a minimum income for workers in the event of disability, as well as working conditions and labor protection, wages.

It should be noted that in a few domestic publications, the category of "social protection" is interpreted differently. Foreign experience on this issue began to be covered in our country quite recently, not enough time has passed to comprehend it so that some of the aspects that suit us can be tested in practice and formulate clear definitions on this basis, therefore some authors identify social protection with social policy in general, with social guarantees, with social justice. Indeed, these concepts have a lot in common, but they are not synonymous. The identification of concepts is to a certain extent due to the fact that each of them does not have generally accepted interpretations. For example, V.I. Patrushev sees social guarantees “in the availability of education, culture, medical care and housing, care for the elderly, motherhood and childhood”, while L.E. Kunelsky understands social guarantees as “guaranteed by the state of a number of services on the free of charge". AT developed countries ah, interpretations of the concept of “social protection” are also ambiguous. In particular, in France, at the state level, it is customary to talk about "family policy", referring to the care of children. international organization Labor recommends distinguishing levels of social protection for workers: the minimum level “includes guarantees of fundamental rights: protection from oppression, freedom of association, equal treatment, inadmissibility of forced labor; and safeguards their physical integrity: occupational safety and health; child labor legislation, etc.” Moreover, the definition of "Social Protection" in one way or another takes into account the level of efficiency of the country's economy, as well as the dependence of the political, socio-economic and psychological stability of society.

Let's try to formulate a definition of the economic category "social protection of the population", since in economic dictionaries, reference books, articles, there is practically no clear interpretation of this definition.

The interpretation of the category of social protection includes the following components: maintaining the level of income; employment services such as labor market information and employment counseling; professional development programs, including vocational training and development of small enterprises; activities directly related to employment, such as public works; adequately funded health care. So, for example, S.Bakkulov gives the following definition: "Social protection is a system of priorities and mechanisms for their implementation, state and other institutions that provide a certain level of social protection in accordance with the specific conditions of social development." Shedenkov S. considers social protection as a system of actions aimed not only at supporting a person in a difficult life situation, but also at eliminating the source of such situations.

According to V. Kravchenko, social protection is a system of legislative, economic, social and socio-psychological guarantees that ensure the observance of the most important social rights and the achievement of an acceptable standard of living. Guarantees in this case are one of the ways the state fulfills its obligations in the field of social protection of the population. Summarizing the content of definitions that complement each other, we offer our interpretation of this category.

It seems to us that in the conditions of reforming the economy, including the social sector, the term "social protection of the population" must be understood in a broad and narrow sense.

In a broad sense, this concept includes the entire system of socio-economic relations that provides optimal conditions to meet the needs of citizens in various fields vital activity.

In a narrow sense, “social protection” means the creation of a system of social guarantees for those groups of the population whose social status does not allow them to provide normal conditions for life without external support.

These definitions, in our opinion, more fully reflect the content of this category, since the core of the system of social protection of the population is - targeting, i.e. real support for specific citizens of society.

Social protection of the population, in our opinion, focuses on various segments of the population: it must provide all members of society with a guaranteed subsistence level, protection of the health, life and property of citizens, purchasing power, etc.; for the able-bodied population, one of the main ones is the guarantee of creating conditions for active and productive labor, ensuring a guaranteed minimum wage, creating working and living conditions, protecting the health of workers at enterprises of any form of ownership at a socially acceptable level, providing benefits for temporary unemployment, etc. ; disabled population - the provision of various forms of social assistance.

In our country, the term “social protection” began to be used relatively recently, with the beginning of a market transformation: the need for its use arose when there was an urgent need to help citizens who were not able to provide for themselves financially.

When forming an effective system of social policy, it is possible to single out the main directions in this area.

The first direction is to support the poorest segments of the population (the sick, the disabled, the elderly, families with many children). In order to find out which categories of the population are eligible for social assistance, the subsistence minimum indicator is used. Regulatory statistical method its calculation involves the assessment of the components of the normative set of food products at average purchase prices, and the costs of non-food products, services, etc. is determined by their actual share in the total expenditures of the 10% of the poorest families. It is believed that the volume and structure of subsistence minimum expenses make it possible to meet the necessary needs of various categories of the population at minimal cost.

Theoretically, the subsistence minimum is a line below which the state should not allow the decline in the living standards of its citizens, providing them with material support. Therefore, the most difficult thing is to reconcile in its size and set of components the requirements of scientific validity, resource security and social acceptability.

Social security is carried out in the form of a wide range of social services:

- cash payments;

-vouchers for free food and clothes;

– home care for the elderly and disabled;

–provision of places in homes for the elderly and disabled, etc.

One of the most important issues is the issue of funding. It can be carried out by the federal budget and specialized off-budget funds.

Based on the sources of funding, social security can be divided into social insurance and social assistance and guardianship. Insurance, assistance and guardianship are in each case some combination of social services and cash transfers.

A characteristic feature of the principle of insurance is the financing of the assistance provided through contributions and the close interdependence between contributions and the volume of social services. The amount of payments in this case is guided by the volume of individual contributions, i.e. on the preliminary deposit of the insured person. Thus, the principle of insurance is most consistent with the market principles of fairness, remuneration according to personal contribution and personal responsibility. This limits the system's ability to regulate income, although it reduces the consequences of social risk.

Social risk is the risk of a sudden occurrence in society of circumstances that cause significant damage to many people at the same time. The modern response to risks is insurance, the essence of which is the pooling of risks. There are two main types of insurance:

–carried out by private companies (voluntary);

-implemented by the state (forced);

For developed countries, compulsory insurance is generally accepted, providing payments in case of unemployment, disability, and old age. But even in these areas, the state does not take over everything, but only those areas where private insurance does not work.

But insurance cannot cover all options for social disasters. In general, insurance should be complemented by social assistance. It is one thing when a person in need receives assistance at the expense of other persons, and it is quite another thing when for him the dependence of the amount of assistance on the dependence of his contribution to the public fund is tangible. In the second case, individual accumulation is stimulated, and in the first case, dependency. Therefore, where insurance and social assistance intersect, preference should be given to insurance.

The principle of social assistance involves funding from the budget. The same amount of assistance for all recipients - the easiest way to organizational option. However, this method is not suitable if we are talking on compensation for lost earnings, t.to. the size of the loss of income varies greatly among different recipients. In addition, the same assistance can reduce the motivation to work.

In favor of taking into account individual security when establishing the amount of social assistance, it is also said that in this way social security funds are effectively used and cases of unreasonable overpayments are excluded.

Due to budgetary funding, all social security systems based on this principle are highly dependent on the financial situation of the state.

A characteristic feature of guardianship is the financing through taxes. However, if a significant part of the social security system is built on the principle of guardianship, then this can lead to an overload of public finances.

In connection with the reform of the social protection system, the question arises of the minimum social guarantees that society can provide to citizens in transitional conditions. AT modern conditions these guarantees are limited to social assistance to the poor. This assistance system is essentially a minimum income guarantee (MIG) system. The system that exists in countries in transition is called income assessment (ELA). Here, social assistance does not aim to cover the difference between the poverty line and the current level of income. It also does not imply mandatory guarantees of a minimum income at the subsistence level.

The second direction is ensuring the right to work. The state must guarantee the equality of subjects in the labor market, the free choice of profession. Summarizing the interpretation of the category "social protection", we can give the following definition of this concept: social protection covers a complex of relationships, essential connections and interests of social actors (employees and employers), public organizations and the state associated with minimizing the impact of factors that reduce the quality of life (including labor).

Factors that disturb the normal course working life and reducing the social status of workers, include risks of damage to health and disability (illness, accidents, old age), insufficient professional qualification or an unfavorable situation in the labor market, leading to the loss of a job.

Social protection of employees includes the following areas:

–creation of conditions for employment of the population labor activity that allows workers to earn a living in amounts sufficient for a decent existence;

– ensuring safe working conditions for employees and access of citizens to national systems health, rehabilitation and vocational education;

– providing employees and members of their families with a subsistence minimum of material resources in cases of unemployment, loss or sharp reduction in income due to illness, the birth of a child, an accident at home, work injury or occupational disease, disability, old age, loss of a breadwinner.

The third direction is the regulation of employment of the population. This includes the development and implementation of programs to create new jobs in the state and non-state sectors of the economy, programs for the employment of people with disabilities. These programs oblige some types of businesses to provide a certain percentage of the total number of jobs for people with disabilities.

Certain programs are being developed to combat unemployment and help the unemployed. The implementation of such programs is usually carried out by labor exchanges, whose functions include studying the labor market, determining which specialists are in demand at the present time and what changes in the labor market are possible in the future. In accordance with this, training and retraining of personnel, relocation and retraining take place. work force. In addition, exchanges pay unemployment benefits.

In today's conditions, such a system generates anti-incentives: it is more profitable not to work than to work. The problem of disincentives is very acute in the provision of social assistance. The objective of such assistance is to raise the income level of the poor and the poor to the minimum acceptable level. In this case, the minimum income is maintained at a certain level. If the minimum benefit is large enough, it can solve the problem of poverty for individuals. However, this does not mean a solution to the problems of family poverty. Therefore, in social assistance, it is necessary to highlight family benefits, low-income benefits and social services.

At present, in Kazakhstan, the responsibility for social protection in the case of extremely low provision lies with local authorities, since they can better determine the scope of the need for social assistance. To do this, the Agency for Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan monthly determines the cost of the consumer basket in order to calculate the basic cash benefit.

It is necessary to develop social services for vulnerable segments of the population. For the direct organization of social assistance, local social programs are important, which vary greatly by region and even by district within the same region. At the same time, the issue of creating unified system social protection, uniting the interests of the state, employers and citizens.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Concept of the Government dated 27.06.2001 No. 886 "The concept of social protection of the population of the Republic of Kazakhstan"

2. Gostenko L.N. Social protection of the population and finance; Study guide - Almaty; Bastau LLP

3. Sansyzbaeva G.N. The system of social protection of the population and its problems. Tutorial. Almaty: Economy

4. Aimbetov S. Our goal is to do what is best: [Ways to reform the social protection of the population]// Kazakhstan: Economy and life.

5. Gaysina S.N. The system of social protection of the population in the transition to a market economy. // Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Social Sciences Series.

6. Tishin E.V. Social protection of the population during the transition to the market. SPb., 1993.

7. Khamzin A.Sh., Khamzina Zh.A., Khamzina L.A. Social Security Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan: Textbook. - Almaty, 2006.