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State of long-term care: conceptual framework for assessment and continuous learning in long-term care systems pmassetti who.int (12.11.2024) The State of long-term care (‎State of LTC)‎ toolkit is designed to support policy- and decision-makers in their efforts to reform and transform long-term care systems by promoting learning, collaboration and trust. It proposes a conceptual framework and a methodological approach to knowledge generation, grounded in participatory governance. The conceptual framework focuses on five key components – population care needs, system inputs, outputs, outcomes and population-level impact – disaggregated into 25 analytical domains. Rooted in a person-centred approach and emphasizing that individual care needs, preferences and expectations should inform system design and reforms, the conceptual framework links in a causal chain structure the available resources in the system to the outputs the system produces and the system-level outcomes obtained. The State of LTC Toolkit is a key deliverable of the European Care Strategy and aims to support the implementation of the Council Recommendation on access to affordable high-quality long-term care. Long-term care
How Mexico’s reformed pension system is improving workers’ retirement security pmassetti Benefits Canada.com (15.11.2024) Earlier this year, Mexico’s senate approved the creation of a new pension fund to help provide more retirement security for low-income citizens. “Congress approved this change to the pension system, which basically established a new welfare pension fund,” says Pedro Trejo, retirement director at WTW Mexico. “The fund was created to help employees with their retirement savings and the general population that’s involved in the social security system will get the benefit. That means more than 80 per cent of the population in Mexico could benefit from this reform.” Pensions mexico
Why is care at the end of life not matching peoples preferences? pmassetti OECD (13.11.2024) As populations age and chronic conditions rise, the demand for end-of-life care is becoming a critical issue across OECD countries. Although most people would prefer to die at home, the majority still die in hospitals, partly due to limited access to home-based services. This policy brief explores the gap between people’s preferences for end-of-life care and the care they actually receive, examining factors such as funding allocation, palliative care availability, and the role of family caregivers. It outlines policies that can improve access to home-based care, ensuring that individuals can die in their preferred setting while receiving high-quality, affordable, and people-centred care. Long-term care
Social protection and climate change financing: Synergies and challenges pmassetti Global Social Policy (Nov 2024) The human cost of climate change is stark, with increased poverty and displacement and severe risks to health and livelihoods all predicted. Climate change reproduces existing inequalities, with vulnerability to its effects driven by poverty, inequality and social status (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2022). These factors increase the vulnerability of the poor and subject those in developing countries to greater socio-economic and environmental risks. Environment and climate change
Taiwan to launch Long-term Care Plan 3.0 in 2025 pmassetti taiwannews (10.11.2024) As Taiwan soon becomes a “super-aged” society, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun said the Long-term Care Plan 3.0 will be launched in 2025 to provide more assistance to elderly people and caregivers. Long-term care Taiwan, China
Improving care economy is vital to growth and well-being pmassetti World Economic Forum (15.10.2024) The care economy not only sustains human activity for current and future generations, but also safeguards the right to both care and receive care. Unpaid care work, if compensated, would represent 9% of global GDP, yet the social and economic value of the care economy remains mostly invisible. We should prioritize the care economy at macroeconomic, policy and cultural levels from a holistic approach to build equitable and sustainable growth. Long-term care
How to leverage digital tools for social protection pmassetti World Economic Forum(23.10.2024) While digital technologies aim to enhance the efficiency of social protection systems for marginalized groups, their implementation often leads to exclusions and a disconnect between citizens and local governance. To address challenges, especially given the need for social protection for climate resilience of the poor, there is a pressing need for community-based digital solutions that empower citizens. Effective social protection requires robust informational infrastructure that informs citizens about their rights, available support and how to hold local authorities accountable. Digital inclusion
Migrant workers in the care economy pmassetti ilo.org (10.11.2024) Migrant workers – especially migrant women – form a critical component of care infrastructures and workforces around the world. However labour migration governance frameworks and protection regimes do not always effectively respond to labour market and employer needs, or sufficiently protect migrant care workers’ rights. This policy brief provides an overview of transformations shaping the growing global demand for care workers, the decent work and labour migration governance challenges which shape outcomes for migrant care workers, and provides recommended policy actions. Long-term care
Publication: The Regulation of Platform-Based Work: Recent Regulatory Initiatives and Insights for Developing Countries pmassetti worldbank.org (04.11.2024) The rapid expansion of the digital economy has transformed the labor market, particularly through the rise of platform-based work. Despite the opportunities it brought into the lives of many workers, the digital economy has presented many challenges to the working conditions of platform workers. This policy brief examines regulatory approaches to protect platform workers across the world and synthesizes the approach to legislation and its scope in the key areas of labor regulations. It includes 23 regulatory reforms in 20 jurisdictions that took place from 2016 to 2024. Our analysis finds that governments take three approaches to regulating platform work: (a) amending the existing labor legislation to platform workers, (b) introducing stand-alone legislation specific to them, and (c) developing measures only to clarify their employment status and extend existing laws for platform workers. Among the countries examined, most of those that introduced regulatory initiatives are high-income countries. Geographically, they are mainly from Europe, North America, and Latin America. In addition, our review suggests that many of the reforms limit their focus to location-based platforms. When it comes to the scope of the legislation, provisions on data privacy, protection, and portability, freedom of association and collective bargaining, and protection against unfair dismissal are most frequently covered by special legislation for platform workers. Employment status determines if workers can access labor rights and social protection. Clarifying employment relationships is thus crucial to improving the working conditions of platform workers. Countries have chosen different approaches to clarify the employment status of these workers. These include (a) clarifying a list of criteria to define employment status, (b) creating a new third category of workers, (c) including the definition of platform workers in the existing category, and (d) introducing specific provisions for contracts. Given the complexity of determining employment relationship, courts still play a key role in determining the employment status in many countries. To improve pay for platform workers, enforcing the existing national minimum wage is the most common approach in setting wage regulations. Given the nature of platform-based work, some regulations include special provisions, such as rules on tips, payment processes, and compensation for work-related costs like equipment. digital platforms Platform workers
Report: Is Care Affordable for Older People? pmassetti oecd (29.10.2024) With population ageing, the demand for helping older people with daily activities – so-called long-term care – is set to increase across OECD countries by more than one-third by 2050. Older people with long-term care needs are more likely to be women, 80-years-old and above, live in single households, and have lower incomes than the average. Currently, across OECD countries, publicly funded long-term care systems still leave almost half of older people with care needs at risk of poverty, particularly those with severe care needs and low income. Out-of-pocket costs represent, on average, 70% of an older person’s median income across the OECD. This report suggests avenues to improve funding to make long-term care systems better able to meet the demand for their services, and suggests policy options to improve the targeting of benefits and seek efficiency gains to contain the costs of long-term care. Long-term care
Mexico: Government begins work to promote initiative on app workers pmassetti AméricaEconomía (14.10.2024) The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, established in her 59th commitment to promote a reform to the Federal Labor Law (LFT) to provide social security to workers through a digital platform, so the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) began meetings with workers in this sector in order to advance the content of the proposal. The agency headed by Marath Bolaños called this week the groups of digital platform workers to a meeting to present the proposal, which should be ready this month. “Commitments 59. This month we will submit the bill to guarantee the mandatory social security for workers who deliver telephone applications,” the president said on October 1. digital platforms Platform workers mexico
Health and Long-Term Care Needs in a Context of Rapid Population Aging pmassetti worldbank.org (16.10.2024) This paper identifies key challenges in health care and long-term care as populations age and provides examples of how countries are responding to them. The paper focuses on developing countries that are aging fast, where anticipation and action are especially important. The paper highlights the need for a holistic strategy that focuses on strengthening health care and long-term care systems and achieving universal care coverage, moving from a disease-centered approach to a person-centered one. But such a strategy should not focus exclusively on the older population. To solve the challenges brought by population aging, younger populations should not be forgotten. How people age is, to a large extent, determined by their health earlier in life and the choices they made when young. The range of policies should therefore promote healthy lifestyles, like physical activity and healthy eating, throughout the entire life course. A healthy aging agenda contributes to containing the costs associated with aging populations. Long-term care
Special Issue: Exploring unemployment insurance for the self-employed and platform workers - European Journal of Social Security pmassetti Special Issue: Exploring unemployment insurance for the self-employed and platform workers - European Journal of Social Security - Volume 26, Number 2, Jun 01, 2024 digital platforms Platform workers Europe
Platform workers: Council adopts new rules to improve their working conditions pmassetti consilium.europa.eu (14.10.2024) The Council has adopted new rules that aim to improve working conditions for the more than 28 million people working in digital labour platforms across the EU. The platform work directive will make the use of algorithms in human resources management more transparent, ensuring that automated systems are monitored by qualified staff and that workers have the right to contest automated decisions. It will also help correctly determine the employment status of persons working for platforms, enabling them to benefit from any labour rights they are entitled to. Member states will establish a legal presumption of employment in their legal systems that will be triggered when certain facts indicating control and direction are found. digital platforms Platform workers Europe
Malaysia expands social protection coverage to foreign workers pmassetti ilo.org (02.10.2024) Invalidity and survivors’ benefits have recently been extended to migrant workers in Malaysia effective 1 July 2024. The ILO’s Simon Brimblecombe explains why this is an important step forward that will benefit workers, employers, and Malaysia alike. Migration malaysia
US: Kamala Harris’s big policy proposal is care pmassetti the.ink (10.10.2024) With a transformative announcement on paying for long-term care for older Americans, Harris aims to make the care economy a reality Long-term care United States
A home care benefit for Medicare pmassetti brookings.edu (20.09.2024) Almost one in five Americans over age 65 are unable to manage basic activities of daily life—bathing, dressing, eating, toileting—without assistance. Among those over age 85, the proportion is closer to half. Friends and family members can and do help out, but even so, about half of people reaching the age of 65-years of age will use paid long-term services and supports (LTSS) at some point. Most Americans do not have enough income or savings to cover these costs. The private long-term care insurance industry has never worked well despite many creative efforts to fix it and to encourage enrollment. The Federal Medicare program provides limited home health care services that, in practice, means short-term care and, as such, does not offer long-term care for lasting functional impairments. That leaves Medicaid. Medicaid offers a critical long-term care safety net for people who get their healthcare primarily through Medicaid—but it isn’t a good solution for most Medicare beneficiaries as it doesn’t align with the system that manages their care and pays their providers. Moreover, eligibility for Medicaid is restricted to those with very low incomes and few assets, so few older adults qualify. It is well past time to add a universal home care program to Medicare itself. Long-term care United States
Integrating Internal Migrants in Social Protection Systems: Review on Good Practices to Inform Adaptive Social Protection Programs in the Sahel pmassetti worldbank.org (07.10.2024) Internal migration. characterized by the movement of people within national borders, is a significant and growing phenomenon, with an estimated 763 million internal migrants globally as of 2013, and 71.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) by the end of 2022. These numbers will continue to increase due to factors such as urbanization and climate change. Estimates suggest that by 2045, the number of people living in cities worldwide will increase 1.5 times, to 6 billion (World Bank, 2019). Despite the potential social protection programs have in playing a positive supporting role for different types of migrants, their families and communities, and the economy, these interventions often fail to adequately address the needs of internal migrants and IDPs, who face unique challenges in accessing and benefiting from such support. This paper examines the barriers that internal migrants and IDPs encounter in relation to social protection programs and highlights best practices from global experiences in integrating migration considerations into the key components of social protection Systems. To overcome these challenges, the paper suggests several solutions, such as reforming eligibility criteria to explicitly include internal migrants, utilizing dynamic social registries to enable information updates, and designing migrant-inclusive support packages that take into consideration, for instance, the timings of participation. It also emphasizes the importance of portability and continuity of services, flexible program implementation, and effective outreach and communication strategies to ensure migrants are informed of their entitlements and can access services regardless of location. Migration
Long-Term Care around the World pmassetti nber-org (2023) The developed world is in the midst of an enormous demographic transition, with life expectancy increasing and fertility falling, leading to a rapid aging of the population. This trend has critical implications for long term care around the world. This paper serves as the introduction to a volume that brings together experts from ten countries to compare long term care systems. We find a number of important similarities: only a minority of those elderly receiving assistance rely solely on formal care (i.e. care in an institution or through paid home care) while the majority of care is provided informally by family or other unpaid caregivers; without public support, the cost of long-term care would be beyond the financial means of a large fraction of the elderly in each country, particularly for the oldest and most disabled; and the public sector bears the majority of the costs of formal long-term care in every country. There are, however, important differences across countries particularly in the extent to which formal care is delivered in institutions or at home, and in the division between the use of formal and informal care. Given the importance of informal care across all countries studied, we conclude that any estimate of the social costs of long-term care must account for the implicit costs of informal care. In undertaking such an evaluation of informal care, we find that it comprises at least one-third of all long-term care spending for all countries studied with an average portion of nearly fifty percent. Long-term care
Singapore: Paid parental leave coming in 2025 pmassetti wtwco.com (30.08.2024) In an effort to address dramatically low birth rates, Singapore proposes new employer-paid leave to support working parents that would be rolled out in two phases starting in 2025. Parental leave singapore
Investigating social protection amongst platform workers in Germany: forced individualisation, hybrid income generation and undesired regulation pmassetti researchgate.net (September 2024) The social protection of platform workers is considered one of the most precarious features and political challenges of this new form of employment. Still, there have only been a few empirical investigations on this issue to date. This article presents an explorative empirical analysis of the social protection of platform workers in Germany - a conservative welfare regime with a strong link between standard employment and institutionalised social protection. On the basis of an online survey amongst 719 self-employed platform workers, we examine how different employment patterns correspond to institutionalised protection against sickness and old age. We empirically explore different protection types and analyse how they differ regarding working conditions in platform work and individual social policy preferences. Findings reveal that conditions of platform work and social protection as well as demands and regulatory preferences vary notably across different clusters of platform workers. Still, the vast majority votes against obligatory social insurances for platform workers and favours self-employment over dependent employment. Against this background, we discuss challenges for future attempts aiming at improving social protection for platform workers. This study adds to the literature by empirically exploring platform workers' social protection and social policy preferences, which have been overlooked to date. digital platforms Platform workers germany
Tunisia: Substantial increase to maternity leave pmassetti wtwco.com (29.07.2024) Government-paid maternity leave in Tunisia triples, along with a boost to paternity leave, as a new family leave law takes effect to enhance leave entitlements for working parents. Parental leave tunisia
South Korea: Improving family leave benefits to boost birth rates pmassetti wtwco.com (24.09.2024) With fertility rates among the lowest in the world, South Korea looks to jumpstart more births by boosting paid parental leave benefits and childcare entitlements. Parental leave korea, Republic of
China's retirement age reforms not enough to fix pension headache pmassetti reuters (24.09.2024) China's move to raise retirement ages is a starting point to plug gaping pension deficits and bolster a shrinking workforce but more pain lies ahead as the economy slows, making further reforms urgent, say economists and demographers. Aging populations are a global phenomenon, but the issue is particularly stark in China due to the legacy of its one-child-policy, which was in place for three decades and has exacerbated its demographic challenges. Pensions china
Dutch pension funds to report CO2 reduction progress pmassetti ipe.com 817.09.2024) Pension funds should report annually about the progress they make in meeting their CO2 reduction targets. They must also provide more insight into their sustainable investments, Dutch pension regulator DNB announced on its website. Pensions netherlands