This chapter studies the institutional structure and quantitative development of national MIP systems. Each of the 17 countries is presented in a separate section, which is organised as follows: the first part analyses the role of MIP in the overall social security system in a historical perspective. The second part describes the present welfare state context of MIP systems in three policy areas: old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and family policies. This second part relates to the comparative analysis of the welfare state presented in Chapter Two. The third part gives a concise overview of each country's MIP system. It shows which schemes exist, when they were introduced, who the major target groups are, and how these schemes can be generally characterised. For each country, a summary table presents the main components of the MIP system. The fourth and final part analyses the development of MIP receipt from 1992 to 2010 (or until the last year for which data are available). For each country, a figure shows the development of recipient numbers in the main MIP schemes. In addition, the total and the long-term unemployment rates are included in the figure. This approach allows for the explanation of the development of MIP receipt in the context of problem pressures, for which unemployment is a key indicator. Data on recipients are taken from the EuMin database, which was built up during the project and is described in Chapter One. The original data sources are too numerous and diverse to be mentioned here, but they are documented in the database, which is now available for public use. Data on unemployment are taken from Eurostat official websites (Eurostat, 2010).

Austria

Austria is a highly developed conservative-type welfare state. Total social spending amounted to 28% of the GDP, the sixth highest level in the EU in 2007 after France, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The welfare state is dominated by employment-related social insurance protecting against major social risks, whereas means-tested benefits and especially the last safety net play residual roles.

The distribution of legal and administrative functions for both areas of welfare between the different levels of government follows this dualistic structure. While social insurance is legislated at the federal level and administered by tripartite corporatist bodies, social assistance belongs to the legislative competencies of the nine Austrian provinces (Lander) and is administered by municipalities.