World Economic Forum (27.05.2021) Innovative solutions have been developed across Africa and Asia to deal with the increasing demand for health workers and services due to COVID-19. These include the use of drones, solar-powered freezers and utilizing Pakistan's unemployed doctors. In a pandemic, these solutions can be the deciding factor between effectively managing the virus and not.

diritto.it (07.04.2021)

The ban on layoffs is extended until 30 June 2021 for workers in companies covered by ordinary CIG (CIGO) and extraordinary CIG (CIGS)(mainly industry and agriculture). The ban on redundancies is extended until 31 October 2021 for workers in companies covered by social shock nets in derogation (mainly tertiary sector).

A new lump-sum of 2,400 euros for seasonal workers in tourism, spas or other sectors, entertainment, self-employed persons, temporary workers and other atypical workers was introduced in April by the Sostegni Decree. The payment of a reduced benefit (1,600 euros) has been extended until July 2021. 

aa.com.tr (26.05.2021)

The Turkish government's Pandemic Social Support Program has provided relief for more than 6 million people, Minister of Family and Social Services Derya Yanık said. The program covers everything from cash aid to the distribution of free food across the country, where the ongoing coronavirus pandemic negatively impacted the income of millions. The regulation barring layoffs during the pandemic would be extended for another three months.

- Lexology (24 May 2021) On 31 March, Emergency Decree No. 034-2021 was published in an extraordinary edition, through which the Social Health Insurance (ESSALUD) has been authorized to pay the 'Economic Benefit of Emergency Social Protection in the face of the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic' and the 'Temporary Disability Allowance for patients diagnosed with COVID-19' during 2021.

Grounded in social-contractual ideas about relationships between the governed and those who govern, the provision of social benefits to citizens has historically been predicated on expectations of acquiescence to state authority. However, the rapid expansion of noncontributory social assistance in sub-Saharan Africa, often supported by global donors through technical assistance programs, raises myriad questions about the relationship between social protection and the social contract in fragile and low-capacity contexts.

socialprotection.org (2021) This note compares the experiences of 53 low- and middle-income countries to identify drivers of timely and large-scale government social assistance responses to COVID-19. The analysis covers cash responses only and focuses on the capacity of the social protection sector and beyond. It compares response times (the first payment date) across countries and analyses their correlation with various potential drivers of timely response, including contextual, legislation and funding, social protection capacity, and service delivery factors. An important caveat is that, in most cases, the first payment date is an imperfect measure of when a response ‘starts’, because many beneficiaries (and often most of those who are poor and vulnerable) receive transfers later. This is to say, timely responses are not always inclusive and are not always timely for all. This note therefore supplements its initial wide-ranging, data-driven analysis with more detailed case studies that allow for further analysis of issues like the extent of coverage (where this data was available), along with lessons learned from these case studies.

caixinglobal.com (17.05.2021) China will soon launch a new pilot program for private pension funds as part of efforts to overhaul its strained system for retirement savings.

bloomberg.com (14.05.2021) Australia could chip into the pension funds of eligible workers who take up its 18 weeks of paid parental leave, just not yet, amid criticism the government isn’t doing enough to ensure women are financially secure in retirement.

Indonesia’s GR 37/2021 introduces the country’s first ever unemployment benefit program, which provides cash stipends and training to the unemployed. To be eligible, participants must have participated in the government’s social security programs the Social Security Administrator for Health (BPJS Kesehatan) for healthcare and the Workers Social Security (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan) for pensions. Employers who fail to register their employees to the program have to pay cash compensation to the employee as a lump sum.

lse.ac.uk (10.05.2021) Like other low- and middle-income countries, Colombia introduced changes to its cash transfer programmes so as to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. But without extending and carefully redesigning these programmes, many families and young people will face a precarious future once the pandemic is over,

ec.europa.eu (07.05.2021) Partners have signed up to the three 2030 headline targets set in the Commission’s European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan in a joint Porto Social Commitment.

ec.europa.eu (10.05.2021) The PES Network has added a fresh selection of six national initiatives developed by Public Employment Services (PES) in Europe to the PES Practices database. Take a moment to check out the latest inspiring examples!

ilo.org (20.05,2021) This policy brief introduces the multi-tiered social security systems to enable universal coverage with a focus on families. A coherent and well-designed family support system within the emerging social security system is truly rights-based, fair and equitable proposal; it has a high potential to attract workers to the social insurance system; and it is the most likely to be politically — and therefore financially- sustainable over time.

06.05.2021 (reuters.com)

An allowance of 3,000 dinars (25 euros, $30) will be paid to each citizen who gets a Covid jab before the end of May, in what could be the world's first cash-for-jabs scheme.

pensionpolicyinternational.com (06.05.2021) The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) reported External linkthat in 2019 between 40-50% of people started receiving their pension from their so-called second pillar before the legal retirement age – 65 for men and 64 for women

worldbank.org (05.05.2021) Progress in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last three decades has increased gender equality, notably in employment. With the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, however, necessary public health measures have put these gains in jeopardy. Throughout the pandemic thus far, women have been more likely than men to lose their jobs and less likely to regain them when conditions allow. Where families have school-age children, many more women than men have withdrawn from or lost work outside the home. By participating in information gathering on the nature and extent of these trends, Latin American and Caribbean countries have gained valuable insights and tools for accurately assessing the situation and preparing to address it as the crisis recedes.

sciencemag.org (06.11.2020) Telemedicine comes in many shapes and sizes and offers many advantages over the traditional healthcare visit, but until recently, it was largely underutilized. The COVID-19 pandemic quickly changed that—only time will tell if telemedicine’s new popularity will last.  On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, radically changing the way medicine is practiced. In the span of a few weeks, as quarantining and social distancing became the norm, in-person medical visits plummeted, suddenly thrusting telemedicine from the wings of medical care to center stage. “The pandemic created a huge public health issue, but the biggest problem wasn’t that COVID-19 patients couldn’t get care—it was that people without the disease couldn’t access their normal care,” says Michael Okun, professor and chair of neurology at the University of Florida.

Immediately before the pandemic, 300 enterprise Mayo Clinic physicians and advanced practice providers had performed a minimum of one video telemedicine consult in the preceding year. By July 15, 2020, the number of Mayo Clinic providers performing video telemedicine consults had risen to >6,500, reflecting a 2,000% increase. Through this pandemic, we have witnessed unprecedented growth in telemedicine utilization. The existing telemedicine system has proven to be scalable.

dw.com (10.05.2021) Heads of the bloc's 27 member states hope to reduce social and economic inequalities that have widened during the coronavirus pandemic.

politico.eu (06.05.2021) Leaders are facing social-welfare policy questions for a changed world. Their answers could alter the EU’s relationship with member states.

institutdelors.eu (03.05.2021) Three and a half years after the Gothenburg Summit, which resulted in the proclamation of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), heads of State and government will meet once again on 7 and 8 May 2021 for the Porto Social Summit. This summit is set to mark a significant moment in the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU), which has made the task of strengthening the European social model one of its priorities.  The aim of the Social Summit will be to give a political impetus at all levels (European institutions, Member States, social partners and civil society) to the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and more specifically to endorse its Action Plan.

Euronews (05.05.2021) What happens when job retention schemes come to an end in Europe? Job retention schemes have kept millions of people in work during the pandemic and lockdowns. As these emergency measures are gradually phased out, how does Europe ensure there are enough jobs and that people have the right skills for the jobs of the future?

oecd.org (29.04.2021) Active labour market policies (ALMPs) that connect people to jobs will help to ensure an equitable and sustained recovery from the COVID‑19 crisis. Already in 2020, many governments reacted swiftly to the crisis by increasing funding for their public employment services (PES), training programmes and measures to increase labour demand. This has allowed the PES to hire additional staff and expand remote and digital accessibility to ensure service continuity. However, additional resources are needed in 2021 and the years to come to ensure that high-quality employment services and programmes can be effective in fostering a quick reintegration of the many jobseekers into the labour market. This policy brief highlights how OECD and a number of other countries have responded to the crisis in adapting and expanding the provision of employment services.

EURACTIV.com (12.03.2021) Spain’s government announced a deal that will recognise riders working for delivery firms such as Deliveroo and UberEats as salaried staff following complaints about their working conditions — a first in the EU. The move came six months after Spain’s leftwing government pledged to clarify the legal status of couriers working for online delivery firms, saying they should be considered employees rather than “gig” workers. It will strike at the heart of the so-called gig economy, which relies on hundreds of thousands of independent workers for app-based services such as food delivery or car rides. The government’s deal with Spanish labour unions sets up the first legislation in Europe that explicitly regulates the status of delivery workers who get around on bikes and motorcycles and whose numbers have exploded in recent years. In Spain, as in other countries, the riders have repeatedly denounced their precarious working conditions, taking legal action to demand recognition as salaried staff, which would grant them benefits such as paid holidays and sick leave. “They are now considered as salaried workers and will enjoy all the relevant protections,” Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz said in a televised address. Spain is “the first country in the European Union to legislate on the matter”, Diaz said.