Alternativas de protección social de los trabajadores de edad frente al desempleo o al empleo precario: ¿perfección de rentas mínimas o tránsito hacia la renta básica?

The paper addresses the different mechanisms of last resort social protection that provide coverage to older workers in situations of economic precariousness, derived mainly from unemployment. The main characteristics of the minimum income schemes provided by Spanish regions are studied, with special attention to the recently approved Catalonia’s “citizenship guaranteed income”, which has relevant innovative elements. Attention is also given to proposals such as the union proposal for the provision of minimum income, without forgetting other existing mechanisms, such as the Active Insertion Income or the non-contributory emergency benefits introduced with a temporary vocation at the peak of unemployment growth. The insufficiency of
the aforementioned set of benefits is verified, both from the economic point of view and as a cover for situations of need, but also the lack of specific measures for the older unemployed.
Faced with this reality, alternative ideas are approached, albeit very succinctly, such as the idea of basic income or guaranteed work.