Social Protection in the Global Economy

Dr.Khin Khin Htwe

• Social protection programmes are thus not only
microeconomic but also macroeconomic stabilisers that
prevent the collapse of entire economies.
• Social protection is a human right.

• It ensures access to health care and income security for

all.
• It provides for you and your family when you're sick,
unemployed, injured, pregnant or too old to work. It
provides support for your family in case something
happens to you.
• What is meant by social protection?
• Social protection is a set of policies and programmes
designed to reduce and prevent poverty and vulnerability
during our lives.

• "Social protection is defined as the set of policies and

programs designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability by
promoting efficient labor markets, diminishing people's
exposure to risks, and enhancing their capacity to protect
themselves against hazards and interruption/loss of income.
• What is the SDG on social protection?
• SDG Target 10.4 calls on countries to adopt social protection
policies to achieve greater equality.
• Social protection promotes economic growth, decent work,
innovation and inclusive industrialization through investing in
human capital, reducing insecurity for workers, and injecting cash
into communities.
• What are the principles of social protection?

• Equality and non-discrimination, participation,

as well as transparency and accountability are
the key human rights principles that should guide
the design and implementation of social
protection policies.
• What are the three pillars of social protection?

• While there is variation across countries, the term social

protection system usually refers to a framework whereby the

three pillars of social protection – social assistance,

– social insurance and

– labour market programmes

– are integrated or, at a minimum, co-ordinated.

• Overall, the components of social protection are often

underpinned by rights and legislation, such as minimum wages.

• What is the strategy for social protection?

• At a minimum, social protection systems

include-- safety nets,

• labor market policies,

• insurance options, and

• basic social services.

• What are the goals of social protection?
• Social protection systems---

• help poor and vulnerable people cope with

crises and shocks,
• find jobs,

• invest in the health and education of their

children, and
• protect the aging population.
• In the broad 5 social goals:-
• economic efficiency,
• economic equity,
• economic freedom,
• economic growth,
• economic security, and economic stability.

• They work with a partner to review a potential government policy,

analyze the social goals affected, and identify the trade-offs that must

be made among those goals if the policy is approved.

• Finally, they work in small groups to analyze policies and social goals.

They create posters and participate in a gallery walk to review the work

of their peers.
• Social protection, as defined by the
United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, is
concerned with preventing, managing, and overcoming situations that
adversely affect people's well-being.
• Social protection consists of policies and programs designed to
reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labour
markets, diminishing people's exposure to risks, and enhancing their
capacity to manage economic and social risks, such as unemployment,
exclusion, sickness, disability, and old age.
• It is one of the targets of the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goal 10 aimed at promoting greater
equality.
• The most common types of social protection
• Labor market interventions are policies and programs designed
to promote employment, the efficient operation of labor
markets, and the protection of workers.
• Social insurance mitigates risks associated with unemployment,
ill-health, disability, work-related injury, and old age, such as
health insurance or unemployment insurance.
• Social assistance is when resources, either cash or in-kind, are
transferred to vulnerable individuals or households with no other
means of adequate support, including single parents, the
homeless, or the physically or mentally challenged.
• History
• Traditionally, social protection has been used in the European welfare state &

other parts of the developed world to maintain a certain living standard, and

address transient poverty.

• One of the first examples of state-provided social protection can be tracked to

the Roman Emperor Trajan, who expanded a program for free grain to include

more poor citizens of the empire. In addition, he instituted public funds to

support poor children.

• Organized welfare was not common until the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
•It was during this period that in both Germany and Great Britain, welfare systems

were established to target the working classes (National Insurance).

•The United States followed several years later, during the Great Depression, with

emergency relief for those struck the hardest.

•However, modern social protection has grown to envelop a much broader range of

issues and purposes; it is now being used as a policy approach in developing

nations, to address issues of persistent poverty and target structural causes.

•Moreover, it is designed to lift recipients out of poverty, rather than exclusively

providing passive protection against contingencies .

• social protection has rapidly been used in trying to reduce and ultimately

eliminate poverty and suffering in developing countries (mostly in Africa), so to

enhance and promote economic and social growth.

• Types : Labor market interventions

• Consisting of both active and passive policies, provide protection

for the poor who are capable of gaining employment.

• Passive programs, such as unemployment insurance, income

support and changes in labor legislation, alleviate the financial

needs of the unemployed but are not designed to improve their

employability.

• On the other hand, active programs focus on directly increasing

the access of unemployed workers to the labour market.

•Active labour market policies (ALMPs) have two basic objectives: (1)

economic, by reducing the risk of unemployment, increasing the

ability of the unemployed to find jobs and increasing their earning

capacity, productivity and earnings; and

•(2) social, by improving social inclusion and participation in

productive employment.

•These programs thus aim to increase employment opportunities and

address the social problems that often accompany high

unemployment.
•Active policies are a way of reversing the negative effects of industrial

restructuring in transition economies and to help integrate vulnerable

people furthest from the labor markets.

• They are often targeted at the long-term unemployed, workers in poor

families, and particular groups with labor market disadvantages.

•A European Union-funded research as part of the DRIVERS project revealed

a linear relationship between investments in national active labour market

policies (specifically those directed towards integrating vulnerable groups

into employment) and quality of work.

•It found that European countries with more active labour market policies

seem to have healthier, less stressed workplaces.

• Active labor market programs include a wide range of activities to
stimulate employment and productivity such as:-

• Employment services. These services include counseling, placement

assistance, job matching, labor exchanges, and other related services to
improve the functioning of the labor market.

• Job Training. This includes training/retraining for the unemployed,

workers in mass layoffs and youth to increase the quantity of work supply.

• Direct employment generation. The promotion of small and medium

enterprises (e.g., public works projects, subsidies) to increase labor
demand.
•A common issue in implementing successful labor market interventions is

how to incorporate the informal economy, which comprises a significant

portion of the workforce in developing countries.

• Informal employment comprises between half and three quarters of non-

agricultural employment in the majority of these countries. The proportion

of informal employment increases when agriculture is taken into account.

•Most informal workers are not covered by social security schemes,

occupational safety and health measures, working conditions regulations

and have limited access to health services and work-related measures of

social protection.
• Labor market interventions work to integrate the

different strategies to prevent and compensate

occupational and social risks in the informal economy.

• The strategies that include measures to prevent and

mitigate the impact of risks are the most effective.

• In general, public expenditure on labor market policy

(LMP) interventions falls within three main categories: 1)

Labor Market Services - training
2) Total LMP Measures
• -job rotation & job sharing
• -employment incentives
• -supported employment & rehabilitation
• -direct job creation
• -start-up incentives
3) Total LMP support
• -out-of-work income maintenance and
support
• -early retirement
• Social insurance

• Social insurance schemes are contributory programs that protect beneficiaries from

catastrophic expenses in exchange for regular payments of premiums.

• Health costs can be very high, so health insurance schemes are a popular way

reducing risk in the event of shock.

• However, an individual with low income may not be able to afford insurance. Some

argue that insurance schemes should be complemented with social assistance.

Community-based health insurance allows pooling in settings where institutional

capacity is too weak to organize nationwide risk-pooling, especially in low-income

countries, making insurance more affordable.

• In risk-sharing schemes, the insurance premium is unrelated to the likelihood that

the beneficiary will fall ill and benefits are provided on the basis of need.
• Social assistance
• Social assistance schemes comprise programs designed to help the most
vulnerable individuals ( i.e., those with no other means of support such as
single parent households, victims of natural disasters or civil conflict,
handicapped people, or the destitute poor), households and communities to
meet a social floor and improve living standards. These programs consist of
all forms of public action, government and non-government, that are
designed to transfer resources, either cash or in-kind (e.g. food transfers), to
eligible vulnerable and deprived persons.[16] Social assistance interventions
may include:
• Welfare and social services to highly vulnerable groups such as the
physically or mentally disabled, orphans, or substance abusers.
• Cash or in-kind transfers such as food stamps and family allowances.
Unconditional cash transfers, for example, appear to be an effective
intervention for reducing extreme poverty, while at the same time improving
health and education outcomes.[17] [18][19]
• Temporary subsidies such as life-line tariffs, housing subsidies, or support of
lower prices of staple food in times of crisis.[20]