ec.europa.eu (16.07.2020) The European Commission presents Guidelines to ensure the protection of seasonal workers in the EU in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. It provides guidance to national authorities, labour inspectorates, and social partners to guarantee the rights, health and safety of seasonal workers, and to ensure that seasonal workers are aware of their rights. Cross-border seasonal workers enjoy a broad set of rights, but given the temporary nature of their work, they can be more vulnerable to precarious working and living conditions.

UNDP (23.07.2020) This paper provides estimates for a Temporary Basic Income (TBI), a minimum guaranteed income above the poverty line, for vulnerable people in 132 developing countries. A TBI amounts to between 0.27 and 0.63 per cent of their combined GDPs, depending on the policy choice: i. top-ups on existing average incomes in each country up to a vulnerability threshold; ii. lump-sum transfers that are sensitive to cross-country differences in the median standard of living; or, iii. lump-sum transfers that are uniform regardless of the country where people live.

CEPAL (Julio 2020) Este Informe Especial es el quinto de una serie que elabora la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) sobre la evolución y los efectos del COVID-19 en América Latina y el Caribe. Esta edición se centra en los efectos económicos cada vez mayores de la pandemia en el mundo y la región en aras de una reactivación con igualdad. Se proponen medidas de protección social como central en la recuperación de la región.

CEPAL (02.04.2020) Esta reunión tuvo como objetivo compartir experiencias sobre el rol de los Ministerios de Desarrollo Social y entidades equivalentes frente a la actual crisis causada por el COVID-19. En especial, interesaba conocer cómo cada institución ha respondido a la pandemia en relación a tres puntos: i) los principales problemas socioeconómicos y prioridades de acción en protección social; ii) las dificultades, desafíos y aprendizajes en la respuesta a la crisis; y, iii) las necesidades de cooperación.

knowledge.leglobal.org (2020) Resumen de las principales y primeras medidas laborales que se adoptaron en Iberoamérica para mitigar el desempleo en el contexto de la pandemia.

Deutsche Rentenvrsicherung (02.07.2020) On July 2, Germany’s parliament approved a law that will introduce an income-tested basic pension (Grundrente) on January 1, 2021, to supplement the country’s social insurance old-age pension (beneficiaries should have at least 35 years of basic-pension years of contributions). This new program is intended to reduce the risk of old-age poverty among individuals who had below-average earnings in their working lives or spent considerable time outside the labor force.

blogs.worldbank.org (14.07.2020) While the world is still in the midst of dealing with the health and socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) shock, one key lesson is already emerging: Social protection is proving its potential as an emergency instrument to protect affected households.

The New York TImes (22.07.2020) The  US government committed to purchase 100 million doses of a not-yet-finished vaccine. The private sector buys most vaccines in the United States, not the government.“We’re trying to make sure access for all Americans is equal,” said L.J. Tan, chief strategy officer at the Immunization Action Coalition. “The best way to do that is to make vaccines free for everybody.” The U.S.

UN/DESA Policy Brief #82 (14.07.2020) All social protection systems are designed to respond to shocks since, in addition to addressing chronic conditions, they are meant to address acute events that negatively impact individuals and households. However, some systems respond better than others. Typical life cycle events, related to the loss of jobs or illness, usually only affect some households at the same time. Standard social protection systems are set to respond to these individual or household-level shocks.

Time (23.07.2020) Temporary basic income payments could stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic by allowing the world’s poorest people to stay at home, according to a new report from the United Nations Development Programme.