With atypical work gaining popularity, platform work seems to combine all the elements which, by deviating significantly from the standard employment relationship, challenge social security systems. After an overview of the features of the standard employment relationship and the different ways in which non-standard forms of work diverge from them, the article focuses on the nature of platform work. It then analyses how platform work is regulated in five European social security systems (i.e. Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium), and how this regulation may fare when analysed under the lens of the recent European Commission’s proposal for a Council Recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed. The article concludes by highlighting the need for further adaptation of social security systems to the specific features of platform work, and by noting the risks of a regulatory approach towards this new form of work being dominated by the exclusion of low-paid work from the scope of labour-related social insurance schemes.

Le Point (28.03.2019) Dominique Libault, ancien directeur de la Sécurité sociale, présente ses propositions pour faire face au vieillissement annoncé de la population.

The evidence‐based policymaking relies on the use and robustness of the available data. Many conceptual and operational difficulties restrict this process, not least in making use of evidence to identify policy priorities. The Active Ageing Index (AAI), developed originally for the 28 European Union countries, offers a strong motivation in this respect. This paper reports on the development of the AAI for Korea, a country where speed and level of population aging is among the highest in the world. Drawing on the comparative analysis of the AAI results for Korea, China, and European countries, we find that Korea's AAI (35.3) is higher than the average of the AAI for all EU countries (33.9) but lower than China (37.3). Fitting Korea into the overall ranking with the EU countries and China (ranked 7), Korea is ranked 11, just behind Germany (10). The AAI results in Korea show that the employment domain performs extremely well compared with the EU countries, but other domains, especially “Social participation” and “Independent, healthy and secure living,” are achieving less favorable outcomes. High employment among the current cohorts of older workers in Korea can be attributed largely to the constraints of low pension income status.

Les Echos (28.03.2018) Part de l'assurance privée, rôle des collectivités locales, reste à charge des familles : chaque pays en Europe fait face à sa façon à la perte d'autonomie des personnes âgées.

lemonde.fr (04.10.2018) Dans un pays à la population vieillissante comme la France, la perte d’autonomie des personnes âgées devient une équation de plus en plus complexe – et chère – à résoudre.

larepublica.pe (26.03.2019) Brecha salarial. En un puesto de trabajo formal el salario promedio de una mujer asciende a S/ 2.032; mientras que en el sector informal gana S/ 715 al mes.

Europa (26.03.2019) The spring edition of the Commission's Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) Quarterly Review shows that the number of people in employment and the number of hours worked continues to rise.

Arte (20.03.2019) Bien sûr, le Brexit reste le feuilleton dramatique du moment. Mais l’Union européenne avance aussi pour renforcer les droits aux aides sociales des personnes qui travaillent et vivent dans un autre pays européen que le leur. Dans ce journal, nous irons aussi en Italie, où Matteo Salvini devrait échapper à la justice et nous partirons en Hongrie où Viktor Orban se prépare à sa possible exclusion du Parti populaire européen. Enfin, pourquoi ne pas revenir sur notre vision de l’Union européenne, qui fait l’objet de sondages aux résultats parfois étonnants ?

When globalisation meshes with robotics, the losers will be the middle classes.

El País (26.03.2019) El Gobierno ha aprobado este viernes la primera estrategia nacional contra la pobreza y la exclusión social en España. El documento abarca el periodo entre los años 2019 y 2023 y esboza la ruta a seguir para combatir la desigualdad en todos sus frentes, desde su manifestación en la infancia hasta la vulnerabilidad energética. En el texto se proponen 85 líneas de actuación como desarrollar un sistema de ingresos mínimos para los hogares, impulsar la universalización de la educación de cero a tres años en familias vulnerables o fomentar el bono social y el bono eléctrico.

European Parliament (19.03.2019) New rules aim to ensure access to social security for EU workers who have moved to a different EU country, while fairly distributing obligations among member states. Updated rules for unemployment, family and long-term care benefits. Better cooperation between member states to ensure access to benefits and root out fraud or errors

Manila Bulletin News (25.03.2019) Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III welcomed the signing into law of the Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHS) bill, which he said is expected to minimize work-related deaths and accidents.

RFI (19.03.2019) Alors que la justice fiscale est l'une des revendications principales des « gilets jaunes » en France, l'enquête de l'Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques (OCDE) publiée mardi 19 mars indique qu'une large majorité de ressortissants des pays développés pense que les riches devraient payer plus pour la protection sociale.

Reuters (21.03.2019) Reform of Brazil’s overloaded pension system would reduce income inequality in Latin America’s largest nation, according to an Economy Ministry study published on Thursday, with the country’s poorest set to enjoy the biggest gains.

Prensa Latina (23.03.2019) United Nations, March 23 (Prensa Latina) The UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is advocating this Saturday providing them with social protection guarantees, mobility, security and access to economic opportunities.

The tie-up of Kenya's mobile sensation M-Pesa with PayPal and Western Union, coupled with the joint venture between two of the largest cellular operators – MTN and Orange – for a mobile wallet that operates across networks have capped a year that has seen significant developments in Africa's already blooming mobile payments market.

M-Pesa has 28.5-million users in East Africa who will now be able to transact with remittance giant Western Union's 500,000 global agents in over 200 countries. M-Pesa has revolutionised mobile transacting, first in Kenya where it was launched by Safaricom in 2007, then into the rest of East Africa and now into West Africa.

For the three months to June 2018, M-Pesa processed 581-million transactions for its 23-million Kenyan subscribers, worth $14,6-billion or $162-million a day, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya. "The power of financial technology to expand access to and use of accounts is demonstrated most persuasively in Sub-Saharan Africa," the World Bank’s Global Findex Database wrote in its financial inclusion survey which found 21% of adults in the region now have a mobile money account. This is "nearly twice the share in 2014 and easily the highest of any region in the world".

Last year the GSM Association said over half of all mobile money services in the world are in Sub-Saharan Africa, which remains the fastest-growing mobile market in the world. The region is expected to have 500-million cellphone subscribers by 2020.

OECD (21.03.2019) This report provides a snapshot of the policy actions being taken by OECD, EU and G20 countries in response to growing diversity in forms of employment, with the aim of encouraging peer learning where countries are facing similar issues. These changes are driving policy makers worldwide to review how policies in different areas – labour market, skills development, social protection – can best respond. How can policymakers balance the flexibility offered by a diversity of employment contracts, on the one hand, with protection for workers and businesses, on the other?

OECD (20.03.2019) This review provides policy recommendations on how to improve the Portuguese pension system, building on the OECD’s best practices in pension design. It details the Portuguese pension system and identifies its strengths and weaknesses based on cross-country comparisons.

cbinsights.com (01.03.2019) Google is betting that the future of healthcare is going to be structured data and AI. The company is applying AI to disease detection, new data infrastructure, and potentially insurance. In this report we explore Google's many healthcare initiatives and areas of potential future expansion.

finchannel (20.03.2019) In 2017, total government expenditure in the European Union (EU) amounted to 45.8% of gross domestic product (GDP). This share has steadily decreased since 2012, when it stood at 48.9% of GDP.

El Economista (20.03.2019) En la última década, los derechos económicos de las mujeres, como el derecho al trabajo y a la protección social, han atraído la atención internacional

socialeurope (20.03.2019) It’s time to share evenly the benefits of automation. That’s why trade unions are calling for a four-day week.

EurActiv (07.03.2019) Les Italiens peuvent demander depuis le 6 mars le revenu de citoyenneté, mesure phare du Mouvement 5 étoile pour les chômeurs et contre l’exclusion sociale

EurActiv (19.03.2019) En dépit d’un taux d’activité record, les personnes âgées sont en proportion bien plus souvent en situation de chômage de longue durée que le reste de la population (60,2% contre 41,8%).