Social Protection For Informal Workers In Asia

This publication examines the need to expand social protection coverage of the informal sector to support working age productivity, reduce vulnerability, and improve economic opportunity. Case studies from Bangladesh, the People's Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand offer suggestions to close social protection gaps and recommend policy solutions to create equitable and inclusive social protection programs for informal workers.

"Publication Stock No. BKK157437-2"--Verso of title page.

This thoroughly researched volume surveys the nature and extent of 'informal' work in Asia, which is a powerful and under-studied force in the region. After over half a century of development, even in the fast growing economies of Asia, the formal sector, and industrial jobs have grown rather slowly, and most non-agricultural employment growth has occurred in the informal economy. At the same time as this, there has been a feminization of informal workers and growth in subcontracted homework. Drawing on detailed case studies carried out in five Asian countries - two low income (India and Pakistan) and three middle income (Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines) – where subcontracted production, usually by women and children working out of home, is now widespread, this insightful book acknowledges that home-based work is the source of income diversification for poor families, but is also the source of exploitation of vulnerable workers and child labour as firms attempt to contain costs. This wide-ranging and accessible survey, edited by key specialists in this field, along with an impressive team of contributors, examines the social protection needs of these workers arguing convincingly for public action to promote such work and protect these workers as a possible new labour intensive growth strategy in developing countries.

This book offers a comparative analysis of social protection policies in five countries of South Asia — India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh — where economic transformation impelled by globalisation and liberalisation has, on the one hand, caused an unprecedented expansion of the informal sector, and heightened the vulnerabilities of its workers on the other. It examines the multiple vulnerabilities of workers who continue to work and live in abysmal conditions, with persistent cutbacks in social security budgets by governments, and evaluates the implementation and efficacy of current policies. The volume introduces the problem through an overview of South Asian economies by charting out the contrasting parallels between growth paths and the extent of poverty among workers in the informal sector. Further, it assesses the projected cost of basic social protection in these economies in the context of different (possible) growth scenarios. The second part of the book discusses the experiences from various countries by highlighting work force composition, ratio of workers in the informal sector to total work force, challenges and concerns, available policies and programmes, and finally, the outreach of these programmes. The concluding section argues for the need for social protection in South Asia by exposing the limitations of existing policies, and proposes a future course of action in order that social protection may serve as a tool in the transformation of social policy. This will be useful to scholars, students and researchers of development studies, economics, politics and labour law. It would also interest those in voluntary sector organisations, nongovernmental organisations, policy makers, journalists and think tanks.

The Book Presents An Overview Of Issues Related To Social Protection In Asia And Argues That The Provision Of Social Protection Should Be Seen As A Core Issue Of Development That Needs Urgent Action By Governments, Society And The Organizations And Advocacy Groups Of The Poor.

The Asian crisis of the late 1990s severely affected some of the most successful economies in the region, placing the issue of social protection high on the regional and international agenda. Subsequently, growth rates revived, but the fruits of growth have not been evenly distributed and inequality has risen. Behind this trend lie deeply entrenched forms of poverty and social exclusion as well as new forms of vulnerability resulting from the liberalisation of markets and growing exposure to the global economy. This volume deals with issues of poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion in the Asian context. The articles deal with different groups of vulnerable people, exploring some of the characteristics of vulnerability in different contexts, and reflecting on appropriate policy responses. Collectively, they emphasise a broad-based systemic approach to the problems of vulnerability and insecurity, where social protection needs to be ‘rescued’ from its dominant current conceptualisation as a response to risk and crisis, and instead be integrated into the mainstream of development policy. This book will interest scholars of economics, politics, development studies, development economics, sociology, social policy, and South Asian studies.

The book examines the conceptual, economic, and fiscal impact(s) of the Social Protection Floor (SPF) initiative of the International Labor Organisation (ILO) and other policy influencers by first critically examining the methodologies used by the international agencies to estimate the fiscal costs of designated minimum package(s) of social protection programs. The book also briefly reviews the methodologies used and usefulness of the Social Protection Index (SPI) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Second, the book analyses strategies and specific initiatives used by the selected East Asian countries (China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam), designed to progress towards the social protection goals underlying the Social Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in September 2015, and endorsed by the countries covered in this book. Finally, the book provides a framework for generating fiscal space to fund the social protection programs and initiatives. The country chapters utilise this framework in the context of each specific country to suggest generating fiscal space.