Benefit durations may be limited, but more often are not. Compared with UI, changes since the mid-1980s to unemployment assistance rules were fewer and smaller. Benefit amounts tended to become less generous, while employment or contribution requirements (where they exist) changed little. For the purpose of the present study, an attempt was made to assemble data for 1995 and 1985 for selected countries in a similar format. This section draws on the resulting policy database, and on various editions of the “Benefits and Wages” series, to summarise relevant policy changes since 1985. To keep the discussion focussed, it is limited to able-bodied prime-age workers.