FT Online (14.02.2019)  Countries in Asia and the Pacific have a good chance of achieving the social protection agenda under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) if the right fiscal reforms and policies are in place, says a new study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The report, Asia’s Fiscal Challenge: Financing the Social Protection Agenda of the SDGs, looks at the fiscal situation in 16 countries and the challenges in building and expanding their social welfare program. 

Asian Development Bank (October 2018) This book focuses on the analysis of fiscal requirements to achieve the social protection agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals.

EurActiv (21.02,2019) Some foreign workers in the German construction sector live in dreadful conditions, toiling away during the day for a few euros and then sleeping in a dump at night. Being given staff and powers should allow German customs officials to adopt a tougher line against undeclared work.

HelpAge (20.02.2019) While women's disadvantage in older age is mainly a result of discrimination throughout the life-course, the design of gender-sensitive pension systems is essential. Gender equality and women's empowerment are increasingly prominent themes on the international policy agenda. The empowerment of women is essential for realising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, agreed by all countries at the United Nations in 2015.

afrique.latribune (10.02.2019) Le 1er avril prochain démarreront les cotisations pour la couverture maladie universelle en Côte d'Ivoire. Cette annonce vient confirmer les propos du ministre ivoirien de l'emploi, Pascal Abinan Kouakou, qui a annoncé le démarrage effectif de la Couverture maladie universelle pour avril 2019.

Reuters (09.01.2019) The Brazilian government’s proposed social security reform will introduce individual contributions into private funds to ensure the pensions of future generations and help boost growth, Presidential Chief-of-Staff Onyx Lorenzoni said on Wednesday.

EurActiv (20.02.2019) Germany is dependent on migrant workers but a decreasing number of them will be EU citizens in the future. In the long term, about 146,000 immigrants from outside of the EU will have to be integrated into the German labour market every year, according to a recent study. EURACTIV Germany reports.

NZZ (07.02.2019) Der Kantonsrat will Ungerechtigkeiten bei der Prämienverbilligung ausmerzen –darüber sind sich die Parteien einig. Das ursprünglich geplante Sparvorhaben ist zudem vom Tisch, zur Debatte steht vielmehr, ob der Kanton noch mehr Geld ausschütten soll.

The OECD Health Division has an ongoing programme of work to support countries in developing long-term care systems that can meet the needs of their populations now and in the future.  

Key issues in long-term care policy As people get older, it becomes more likely that they will need day-to-day help with activities such as washing and dressing, or help with household activities such as cleaning and cooking. This type of support (along with some types of medical care) is what is called long-term care. Demand for long-term care is expected to rise, thanks in part to ageing populations and increasing prevalence of long-term conditions such as dementia. However, the availability and affordability of long-term care services varies dramatically between OECD countries. Public spending on long-term care ranges from more than 4% of GDP in the Netherlands to less than half a percent of GDP in countries such as Israel, Latvia and Poland (see chart below).

citylab.com (31.12.2018) With more than two decades behind it, the Quebec program that spawned an affordable child care model has some lessons for the rest of the world.

Hindustan Times (19.02.2019) The changing nature of work is upending traditional employment globally, and with it, social protection systems. Take for instance, insurance, made possible through mandatory contribution and payroll taxes on formal wage employment.

ultimahora (19.02.2019) Con un índice del 71%, se lidera el ránking entre economías emergentes de ingreso mediano alto. La falta de protección social para trabajadores se mantiene entre las principales preocupaciones.

devdiscourse (18.02.2019) The concept of ‘Vision Zero’ is fast gaining international acceptance and is expected to leverage the efforts of the Government of India to raise the occupational safety and health standards in the country so as to improve the occupational safety and health situation.

Le Monde (18.02.2019) Le chômage poursuit sa décrue. Selon le dernier bilan de l’Institut national de la statistique et des études éco­nomiques (Insee), le niveau de l’emploi a retrouvé son niveau de 2009. Au dernier trimestre 2018, 8,8 % de la population active française était sans emploi, selon la définition du Bureau international du travail (BIT), qui fait référence.

Gulf Times (18.02.2019) Pakistan has told the United Nations that the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan is pursuing a number of people-centric policies designed to eliminate poverty by boosting sustainable economic growth of the country.

La Republica (15.02.2019) Previsional. En informe se invita a garantizar una protección social universal. Además, sugiere que los gobiernos pueden "ampliar margen fiscal" para atender este problema. Según cifras de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT), hoy existen 2.000 millones de personas en el mundo que trabajan en la informalidad. Obtienen ingresos para garantizar su vida en el presente; pero estarán desprotegidas en el futuro ya que no contribuyen para su pensión.

Alternatives Economiques  (14.02.2019 Les déserts médicaux sont au programme du projet de loi sur la santé. En attendant, les initiatives se multiplient pour pallier le manque de professionnels de santé dont souffrent certains territoires. Et préfigurent pour beaucoup la médecine de demain.

KT Press (15.02.2019) Rwanda has started a process to revise social protection scheme (ubudehe) after recurrent complaints of citizens who blame local government authorities for ‘being corrupt’ in classification of citizens according to their social economic means.

ILO (14.02.2019) Progress in reducing unemployment globally is not being matched by improvements in the quality of work, says the International Labour Organization’s World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2019 report.

The Bitcoin White Paper was published by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008; the first Bitcoin block got mined in 2009. Since the Bitcoin protocol is open source, anyone could take the protocol, fork it (modify the code), and start their own version of P2P money. Many so-called altcoins emerged and tried to be a better, faster or more anonymous than Bitcoin. Soon the code was not only altered to create better cryptocurrencies, but some projects also tried to alter the idea of blockchain beyond the use case of P2P money.  

The idea emerged that the Bitcoin blockchain could be in fact used for any kind of value transaction or any kind of agreement such as P2P insurance, P2P energy trading, P2P ride sharing, etc. Colored Coins and Mastercoin tried to solve that problem based on the Bitcoin Blockchain Protocol.

The Ethereum project decided to create their own blockchain, with very different properties than Bitcoin, decoupling the smart contract layer from the core blockchain protocol, offering a radical new way to create online markets and programmable transactions known as Smart Contracts. Private institutions like banks realized that they could use the core idea of blockchain as a distributed ledger technology (DLT), and create a permissioned blockchain (private or federated), where the validator is a member of a consortium or separate legal entities of the same organization.

The term blockchain in the context of permissioned private ledger is highly controversial and disputed. This is why the term distributed ledger technologies emerged as a more general term.

Private blockchains are valuable for solving efficiency, security and fraud problems within traditional financial institutions, but only incrementally. It’s not very likely that private blockchains will revolutionize the financial system.

Public blockchains, however, hold the potential to replace most functions of traditional financial institutions with software, fundamentally reshaping the way the financial system works.

OECD (13.02.2019) Many OECD countries need to urgently scale-up and upgrade their adult learning systems to help people adapt to the future world of work, according to a new OECD report. Getting Skills Right: Future-Ready Adult Learning Systems says that new technologies, globalisation and population ageing are changing the quantity and quality of jobs as well as the skills they require. Providing better skilling and re-skilling opportunities to workers affected by these changes is essential to make sure the future works for all.

BusinessMirror (14.02.2019) The Philippines needs to spend an average of 3.48 to 5.58 percent of its GDP to fill its social protection gaps up to 2030, according to estimates by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In a report, titled “Asia’s Fiscal Challenge: Financing the Social Protection Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs],” the ADB said addressing the fiscal challenges in providing social protection is key to achieving Agenda 2030.

EurActiv (12.02.2019) The future landscape of work in Europe will undoubtedly include a significant increase in robotics technologies – and this could bring major benefits if the right policies are in place to ensure people have the best skills to thrive in Europe’s new world of work.

Le Monde (13.02.2019) Selon les derniers chiffres de l’Insee, la proportion de salariés embauchés en contrat court s’est stabilisée depuis les années 2010 après avoir été multipliée par quatre.

EurActiv (12.02.2019) Finland is the first country to complete a nation-wide experiment on universal basic income. With the first results in, Finnish finance minister Petteri Orpo told EURACTIV.com that the largest parties in his country don’t support the idea anymore