africanarguments.org (10 febrary 2022) In 2020, when the pandemic began, many governments worldwide undertook the task of channeling emergency support to their most vulnerable citizens. This task, made more difficult by the unprecedented public health restrictions implemented in various settings, was fraught with difficulties. This included ensuring that help reached those who needed it the most, and that precious resources did not go to people who did not need support. Indeed, beyond this recent context, every government in the world faces two major challenges when implementing targeted anti-poverty programs. The first is defining poverty, appropriate thresholds and measures. The second is identifying benefiting individuals and families themselves.

unicef-irc.org (2022) Financing quality social services will require increased public investment and greater mobilization of both domestic and international resources in the post-COVID era. Currently, low- and middle-income countries invest, on average, just one third of their total government expenditure in social spending on education, health and social protection. However, the fiscal space to enhance social spending remains constrained in many parts of the world. Given the scale of the challenge facing many countries, a renewed focus on financing social spending is needed to address widening inequalities. This policy brief is the second in a series that assesses key issues affecting social spending as part of UNICEF’s work on Public Finance for Children. The brief examines how recent trends are impacting on the financing available for, and directed to, social spending in low- and middle-income countries in different regions, using secondary analysis of public expenditure data collected by international organizations. It calculates median spending figures by region and income group, using World Bank regional aggregates for domestic spending.

UN News (07.02.2022) Opening the session, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Liu Zhenmin, argued that the pandemic had highlighted the critical role of social policies.  “The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated inequalities, and multiple forms of deprivation”, Mr. Zhenmin said, remembering that many countries reacted by instituting emergency measures.  “One key lesson is the importance of universal access to social protection, to enhance economic and food security, in times of crisis”, he said. 

LSE Business Review (11.02.2022)  High automation risk discourages older workers from remaining in employment. In technologically advanced countries such as Finland, generous unemployment benefits to people 59 and over ends up creating a retirement pathway. Simply pushing that age limit back increases the probability that older workers facing higher risk of automation will remain in employment. Naomitsu Yashiro, Tomi Kyyrä, Hyunjeong Hwang, and Juha Tuomala write that as governments move to discourage early retirement, employers will need to work together with employees to support longer working lives.

thelocal.it (31.12.2021) From Saturday, the single universal child benefit (L’assegno unico e universale) is open for applications and will be distributed from March 1st 2022. The measure forms part of Italy’s overall Budget Law 2022, which has established tax and pension reforms as well as extended some tax breaks for home renovations and help with buying a first home.  The new single allowance replaces a raft of other so-called ‘baby bonuses‘, unifying a series of measures to support families – hence the term ‘unico‘. It’s also called ‘universal’ because it is granted to all families with dependent children resident in Italy.

Cet espace personnel sera créé automatiquement pour chaque personne couverte par l’Assurance-maladie, centralisant ses informations médicales.

wtwco.com  (24.01.2022) A large majority of the political parties in parliament have agreed on a new model to equalize family leave benefit entitlements between both parents, adopting almost in its entirety a proposal from the two main social partners. The bill required to amend current family leave legislation was submitted to parliament on December 22, 2021. The agreement is intended to meet the requirements of the 2019 EU Work-life Balance Directive that European Union member states provide, among other things, paternity leave of at least 10 working days and a minimum of two months of nontransferable parental leave for each parent, by August 2, 2022.

Project Syndicate (29.12.2021) Even though governments do not provide all pension income in most national systems, they have good reasons to be involved in reform efforts. And one of the best things governments could do is to ensure that workers have the information and financial education they need to make the best decisions about their retirement.

lse.ac.uk (25.01.2022) The concept of a universal basic income has received increased attention since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. But what do the public think about the proposal? Drawing on a new study, Leire Rincón illustrates that a key factor affecting support for a universal basic income is the way it is funded, with more people likely to back the policy if it is funded by increasing taxes for those on higher incomes.

economy2030 (january 2022) The UK is facing a decade of unprecedented economic change as we adjust to a post-Covid-19 economy, a new economic context outside the European Union (EU), and the decarbonisation of the economy.  And the social security system has a key role to play in the years ahead: it is part of the policy toolkit for helping individuals and the economy as a whole deal with a period of enhanced labour market change, but it also needs to address the legacy problems of slow growth in living standards and high inequality. This report considers how well the UK’s social security system for working-age households is equipped to meet these challenges, and, in particular, how well aligned it is with the country’s likely future economic and social challenges.

IPE (31.01.2022) The chief executive officer of the State Pension Fund of Finland (Valtion Eläkerahasto, VER), said the economic conditions brought about by the pandemic will stay with us, and with digitalisation and medicine as the key drivers of this new system, that is where governments need to allocate resources.

Atlantis Press (06.01.2022) Social protection system in Indonesia has played an important role in delivering social assistances to poor households in the past two decades. Literature of digital transformation in Indonesia’s social protection policy is still limited, therefore, this research serves to fill the gap as well as providing general ideas for future research. Utilizing the theories of digital government, digital social protection system, and Society 5.0 as theoretical framework, this research discusses the digitalization of Indonesia’s Social Protection System and its possible contributions towards Society 5.0’s demand of safeguarding against poverty. This research argues that digitalization of social protection system is an important step towards achieving society 5.0 in terms of strengthening government’s social welfare policy based on two main reasons: It enhances government’s coverage in delivering social benefits towards society via data utilization to tackle poverty as a social challenge, and it serves as a form of government automation which integrates physical and cyber space in social benefits delivery to safeguard social welfare against future possible shocks.

afd.fr (january 2022) This paper exposes the measures extended to informal workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study analyzes two South-American countries which have a high percentage of informality, Colombia and Brazil. We study the implications of the expansion of the social assistance programs of these two countries, exposing their weakness and strengths to mitigate the pandemic adverse effects. The evidence provided by this research makes us believe that the perseverance of the informal worker's inclusion in cash transfers programs can be a powerful tool to mitigate inequalities in the labor market.

lemonde.fr (27.01.2022) Editorial du « Monde ». Alors que la révélation sur la gestion des Ehpad du groupe Orpea est devenue une affaire politique, il n’est pas trop tard pour que le grand âge devienne un thème de la campagne présidentielle.

arabstates.undp.org (28.12.2021) The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting societies and economies at their core. In the Arab Region, the pandemic has exacerbated existing structural weaknesses in economies as well as unresolved social challenges, making the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) even more urgent. Governments in the region are facing two challenges: to effectively address the health crisis and to respond to the economic and social fallout from the crisis. Governments across the region have introduced a range of social protection measures to help mitigate the impacts of the crisis. This paper aims to review the key social protection measures implemented as a response to the crisis, identify gaps, and propose ways to establish more coherent and effective social protection systems.

socialeurope.eu (13.01.2022) After several reports by the labour inspectorate and contradictory judgments by the courts, in September 2020 the Supreme Court finally ruled that platform workers were employees and not self-employed workers—and that, therefore, the labour and social-security rights applying to all other workers had to apply to them as well.

businesstech.co.za (04.01.2022) Social development minister Lindiwe Zulu says that introducing a new basic income grant in South Africa will likely be phased in over several years, with her department currently pushing for an extension of the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant as a baseline.

theguardian.com (11.01.2022) California is considering creating the first government-funded, universal healthcare system in the US for state residents. The proposal, which lawmakers will begin debating on Tuesday, would adopt a single-payer healthcare system that would replace the need for private insurance plans.
Lawmakers are debating two bills – one would create the universal healthcare system, another would outline plans to fund it by increasing taxes, especially for wealthy individuals and businesses. The sweeping healthcare reform faces significant hurdles, including opposition from powerful lobbies for doctors and insurance companies. If the bills are approved by the legislature, voters would ultimately have to approve the taxes to fund the new system in an amendment to the California constitution.

Innovations for Poverty Action (2022) Millions of informal sector workers in low- and middle-income countries are excluded from formal pension and social security systems, posing potential economic challenges for old age populations. Micropensions may help to address these challenges—but more information is needed about the demand for these products. In India, researchers conducted a survey examining the emerging micropensions market to better understand the behavioral, economic, and institutional factors that influence participation. A majority (80 percent) of respondents reported interest in the micropension and many valued product design features that would restrict early withdrawals.

ilo.org (05.01.2022) Digital labour platforms are now a vital part of contemporary life—they allow us to arrange a ride, order food and access a host of other services online. They accomplish this by connecting clients or customers with workers who undertake these tasks or “gigs”. The past decade has seen the global rise of “gig workers” or “platform workers”, with platforms like Uber, Gojek, Deliveroo, Rappi, Upwork and Topcoder. Digital labour platforms have created unprecedented opportunities for workers, businesses and society by unleashing innovation on a massive global scale. Yet at the same time, they pose serious threats to decent work and fair competition. Explore this InfoStory to find out how digital labour platforms impact workers and enterprises around the world and why there is an urgent need for regulatory coherence for the platform economy.

 JOGH (20.11.2021) While there is tremendous promise to leverage technology for UHC, it will require smart, context-specific policies and programming with ample flexibility to adapt as needs and opportunities change – and with robust safeguards to protect privacy, data security, and equity. The health sector, by its very nature of being data intensive, lends itself to the use of technology for analytics to improve health outcomes, respond to public health crises, and efficiently and equitably allocate resources. The first imperative in considering the use of digital health to expand UHC is to remember that digital health is a means to an end, and only one of the available means. Efforts leveraging digital health to move along that path to universality have taken many forms: to increase the number of people reached, to provide enhanced service coverage, and to reduce the financial burdens on individuals in need of health care. Making use of digital health interventions is an evolving process, not a one-time decision point. It is context specific and needs a clear vision to move from pilot interventions to scaled implementation. Technology can be a key tool in achieving UHC but its use has to be strategic, judicious, and cognizant of issues around privacy and patient rights.

| Asian Development Bank - This working paper applies the Social Protection Reform Simulation (SPRS20) costing model to analyze the costs associated with social protection in 30 Asia and Pacific countries against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Urban Institute (july 2021) In an earlier brief, we estimated that the American Rescue Plan Act, enacted in March 2021, would reduce the 2021 annual poverty rate to 8.7 percent (Wheaton et al. 2021). We now project a 2021 poverty rate of 7.7 percent for 2021.

indianexpress.com (23.12.2021) The emergency requirements dictated by the pandemic led the Supreme Court, in May 2021, to order a time-bound inclusive and universal registration system for informal workers and circular migrants. The e-Shram portal which has come into existence now is meant to fulfil this mandatory requirement.

atalayar.com (03.01.2022) This new plan will strengthen and develop several programmes in the areas of social assistance, improving governance, as well as launching new carve-outs that signify a reform of the targeting system. Also, this project aims to diversify and expand the support mechanisms for the most vulnerable groups of society, which in the case of retirees for example, will extend their health and retirement coverage. The government also plans to develop a system of compensation for those who have lost their jobs.