The COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating economic and social insecurity for more than 2 billion people – the vast bulk of them in developing countries – employed in the informal sector. The gap is growing between those with and without access to social insurance safety nets, and is contributing to the dramatic rise in global inequality and lack of social mobility. A radical rethink of the nature of work and social insurance is needed, driven in part through a coalition between national governments and international financial institutions (IFIs). There are compelling economic, political and moral reasons for expanding access to social insurance for informal sector workers. Social insurance schemes for informal and self-employed workers will need to be subsidized by the state. But fiscal constraints in many developing countries have been exacerbated by the pandemic, and their governments will need help to extend individualized social insurance programmes to these sectors. The IFIs will need to develop the capacity to advise governments, and systematically monitor and evaluate insurance schemes in collaboration with beneficiary states. Governments in developed countries and IFIs may also have to provide debt relief and bilateral and multilateral grants, which should be tied to the design and implementation of social insurance policies. The G20 has a key role to play in supporting this shift in focus by the IFIs.
Authors
- ISBN
- 9781784134549
- Published in
- United Kingdom