Protection Floor Research Articles

The Impact of SADC Social Protection Instruments on the Setting Up of a Minimum Social Protection Floor in Southern African Countries

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) was formed to promote the political, economic and social wellbeing of the region. Some of the social objectives of the SADC are the promotion of social development and the alleviation of poverty, the enhancement of the quality of life of the peoples of Southern Africa, and the provision of support to the socially disadvantaged. In order to achieve these objectives, SADC member states have concluded a Treaty and various social protection-related instruments which aim to ensure that everyone in the region is provided with basic minimum social protection. Although the formation of the SADC (and the conclusion of some of its social protection-related instruments) preceded both the minimum social protection floor concept and the Social Protection Floor Initiative, the Treaty and instruments can be seen as complying with the requirements of both the concept and the initiative within the region. This article analyses the extent to which the SADC social protection-related instruments fulfil a minimum social floor function at the SADC regional level. The positive and negative aspects of the SADC Treaty and social protection-related instruments in this regard are evaluated. In addition, the article reviews the impact of the SADC social protection-related instruments in the setting up of social protection programmes aimed at ensuring a minimum social protection floor in some of the SADC countries. The successes of such country initiatives and the challenges faced are discussed. This is then followed by some concluding observations.

Work incentives across the income distribution and for model families in Lithuania: 2005–2013

ABSTRACTThe aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of cash social benefits on work incentives across the income distribution and among selected model family types in Lithuania. The analysis of work incentives was carried out for 2005–2013 based on a combination of measures estimated using the EUROMOD tax–benefit microsimulation model. The analysis revealed high disincentives to work at the bottom of the income distribution, dominated by the effect of cash social benefits compared to taxes or social insurance contributions. A strong trade-off between benefit adequacy and work incentives is built into the design of the national cash benefit system, particularly social assistance. The challenge for policy design is thus to encourage active labour market participation among low earners without eroding the minimum income protection floor.

Partisan Preemption: the Strategic use of Federal Preemption Legislation

Federal preemption by both parties has risen dramatically since the 1960s. Scholars note that Democrats and Republicans routinely employ preemption to advance partisan political goals, but we know very little about how each party uses this tool of federal power. Are policymakers from both parties employing preemption in similar ways, or do strategic partisan differences exist? Using an original dataset, we show that Democrats and Republicans systematically vary in their use of preemption. Democrats put forward preemption legislation that maximizes regulation by mandating a floor of protection across the states, particularly for policies that promote consumer protection and expand civil rights. In contrast, Republicans enact preemptions that cap regulation by utilizing ceilings that curtail the states’ ability to regulate, particularly for business and commerce policy. Ultimately, both parties have enhanced federal power and limited state authority, but they do so in dramatically different ways and for vastly different political goals.

Social Security in Malaysia: Stock-Take on Players, Availablec Products and Databases

The main aim of this article is to provide an overview of social security in Malaysia. The focus is on relevant services, players and databases in the country. The development of social security in Malaysia is captured in Malaysia’s Five Year Development plans with a twin goal of achieving good growth and equitable development. Hence, social security policies in the more recent development plans were part of the distribution policies. The study uses the ILO’s three-dimensional approach to social protection as a benchmark for analysis. The first dimension refers to the proactive measures to provide social assistance to the non-productive and productive groups in society by ensuring access to basic essential goods and services. The basic protection floor has improved over the years with programmes targeted at equitable development and inclusive growth as seen in the NEM and the 10th MP. The second dimension refers to the social insurance system to prevent or at least mitigate the impact of risks borne by society. The four main schemes such as pension for civil servants, the LTAT, the EPF, and SOCSO have contributed to a relatively higher score forMalaysia (same income group), in the Social Protection Index (SPI) introduced by the ADB (2003). However, post-1997 Asian Financial Crisis saw social security policies beginning to incorporate labour market programmes, the third dimension of the ILO’s framework which aims at promoting the potentials and opportunities for individuals to contribute positively to society. Several agencies that are accountable to different authorities are responsible for the programmes. Yet, there is no effective coordination; in other words, no supreme body to oversee the products of social security and to link them all to meet the national framework and policy. The absence of an overarching social policy is not helping either. All social protection service providers and government agencies collect data and information in order to support their own programmes. As a result, the single-user data collection remains isolated with no mega-database as an interface among social securityproviders.

Sosyal Güvenliğin Yaygınlaştırılmasında Uluslararası Çalışma Örgütünün Ulusal Sosyal Koruma Tabanları Tavsiyesinin Rolü

At the International Labour Conference in 2011, a new strategy was formulated to establish sustainable social security systems. This strategy resulted in the recognition of the Social Protection Floors Recommendation by the ILC, which convened in 2012. The so-called Recommendation, number 202, is intended for the creation of national social protection floors. Social protection floors cover legal implementations including the obtention of the right to basic health and basic income assurance. There are four fundamental policies that will be dealt with while creating the social protection floors at the national level. The first of these policies is to develop social security programs to support employment policies. Following this, it is necessary that a comprehensive national social security system be set up. The third fundamental policy is to strengthen the country’s institutional capacity within the framework of principles of governance and liability. Finally, creating the financial sources of social protection floors should be dealt with within the national fiscal space. In order to be able to succeed in the extension of social protection floors at national and international levels that will be created within the framework of the Recommendation numbered 202, the support of national governments, NGOs and global efforts is needed within the framework of social dialogue.

Language in the United Nations post-2015 development agenda

The United Nations system has been engaged for some years in setting new development priorities to replace the Millennium Development Goals following their expiry in 2015. While language issues are almost wholly absent from documents intended to guide this policy process, there are thought-provoking implications for language planners in some of the key ideas advanced by agencies within the UN system. These include the need to address structural inequalities, greater emphasis on cities as loci of social planning and management, growing interest in social protection floors as a policy mechanism, and the implications of sustainable development as an alternative planning paradigm.

From conceptual pluralism to practical agreement on policy: global responsibility for global health.

BackgroundAs the human cost of the global economic crisis becomes apparent the ongoing discussions surrounding the post-2015 global development framework continue at a frenzied pace. Given the scale and scope of increased globalization moving forward in a post-Millennium Development Goals era, to protect and realize health equity for all people, has never been more challenging or more important. The unprecedented nature of global interdependence underscores the importance of proposing policy solutions that advance realizing global responsibility for global health.DiscussionThis article argues for advancing global responsibility for global health through the creation of a Global Fund for Health. It suggests harnessing the power of the exceptional response to the combined epidemics of AIDS, TB and Malaria, embodied in the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to realize an expanded, reconceptualized Global Fund for Health. However this proposal creates both an analytical quandary embedded in conceptual pluralism and a practical dilemma for the scope and raison d’etre of a new Global Fund for Health. To address these issues we offer a logical framework for moving from conceptual pluralism in the theories supporting global responsibility for health to practical agreement on policy to realize this end. We examine how the innovations flowing from this exceptional response can be coupled with recent ideas and concepts, for example a global social protection floor, a Global Health Constitution or a Framework Convention for Global Health, that share the global responsibility logic that underpins a Global Fund for Health.ConclusionsThe 2014 Lancet Commission on Global Governance for Health Report asks whether a single global health protection fund would be better for global health than the current patchwork of global and national social transfers. We concur with this suggestion and argue that there is much room for practical agreement on a Global Fund for Health that moves from the conceptual level into policies and practice that advance global health. The issues of shared responsibility and mutual accountability feature widely in the post-2015 discussions and need to be addressed in a coherent manner. Our article argues why and how a Global Fund for Health effectuates this, thus advancing global responsibility for global health.

Health sector employment: a tracer indicator for universal health coverage in national Social Protection Floors.

BackgroundHealth sector employment is a prerequisite for availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality (AAAQ) of health services. Thus, in this article health worker shortages are used as a tracer indicator estimating the proportion of the population lacking access to such services: The SAD (ILO Staff Access Deficit Indicator) estimates gaps towards UHC in the context of Social Protection Floors (SPFs). Further, it highlights the impact of investments in health sector employment equity and sustainable development.MethodsThe SAD is used to estimate the share of the population lacking access to health services due to gaps in the number of skilled health workers. It is based on the difference of the density of the skilled health workforce per population in a given country and a threshold indicating UHC staffing requirements. It identifies deficits, differences and developments in access at global, regional and national levels and between rural and urban areas.ResultsIn 2014, the global UHC deficit in numbers of health workers is estimated at 10.3 million, with most important gaps in Asia (7.1 million) and Africa (2.8 million). Globally, 97 countries are understaffed with significantly higher gaps in rural than in urban areas. Most affected are low-income countries, where 84 per cent of the population remains excluded from access due to the lack of skilled health workers. A positive correlation of health worker employment and population health outcomes could be identified. Legislation is found to be a prerequisite for closing access as gaps.ConclusionsHealth worker shortages hamper the achievement of UHC and aggravate weaknesses of health systems. They have major impacts on socio-economic development, particularly in the world’s poorest countries where they act as drivers of health inequities. Closing the gaps by establishing inclusive multi-sectoral policy approaches based on the right to health would significantly increase equity, reduce poverty due to ill health and ultimately contribute to sustainable development and social justice.

Defining Minimum Income (and Living) Standards in Europe: Methodological Issues and Policy Debates

Minimum income protection is gaining new significance in European social policy. In an effort to promote social inclusion, the European Parliament has called on the European Commission and EU Member States to guarantee the minimum right to social safety nets. The Commission has been considering, in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy, the possibility of setting minimum standards for social protection. It is timely then to survey the debates surrounding minimum income standards for Europe and some of the different technologies available for setting reference budgets. A European needs-based (minimum) social protection floor should help guard against poverty and exclusion, but there can be no ‘one size fits all’ in Europe. For it is equally clear that higher social standards of protection may be required by citizens in more affluent parts of Europe. How can such distinctions be made, and what are the challenges arising from doing so?

Something old, something new: The ILO response to the 2008 financial and economic crisis

In October 2008, rumblings in the financial markets finally erupted in a week of steady and unprecedented losses on the New York Stock Exchange. The ensuing contagion and ultimate descent into a protracted global downturn would expose a failed system of global economic governance. The international institutions, and in particular those longstanding critics of the Washington Consensus of privatization and deregulation, rightly seized on the occasion to rethink exactly how and for whom the global economy should work. As it did for reform of some excesses and lax oversight of the financial sector, so too would the crisis create opportunities to increase spending on job creation and social protection, long shrinking as states sought to lower taxes and create accommodating business environments. By 2009, governments were mobilizing trillions of dollars to lubricate lending markets and shore up failing banks, but also to support public works, extend unemployment and other social protection benefits. For its part, the International Labout Organization (ILO) would cast the episode as a global jobs crisis, naturally, which only coordinated international action could address (ILO, 2009). But in addition to prescriptions for remedying depressed labour demand, it would also undertake an unprecedented push for the expansion of social protection. Immediately following the crisis, the ILO’s work was guided by two objectives. The first was to keep the initial expansionary reaction afloat in many industrialized nations where formal protection systems existed and had been active in providing cover from the fallout. The second was to introduce new coverage for exposed populations, often inside developing countries where social protection systems were too selective, weak or altogether non-existent. For the latter, the ILO’s initial approach appeared to sequence the construction of social security systems, recommending investments in establishing coverage breadth – even if it meant delivering only limited benefits to larger numbers of people – before going on to address concerns about the size of transfers and their ultimate impact on poverty (ILO, 2009a)1. The roll-out of ‘at least basic’ income security and essential health care for all represented the social protection floor, ensuring all of those in need have access to support often coming in the form of non-contributory cash benefits. This sequenced, or progressive, approach had several advantages. First, it seemed to make good sense that the construction of social protection floors would serve to build up the requisite institutions and administrative capacities of governments needed to deliver social protection benefits, whatever their size. Second, by first covering all those in need,

The OECD and the aftermath of the crisis: Another missed opportunity?

Looking toward the future, the ILO will undoubtedly continue to advance the social protection floor to the degree possible through the Board and through its other endeavors, expanding further into cash transfers while retaining its position as lead UN agency for social insurance. What is less certain is whether the international consensus forged following the crisis around the need for at least basic social protection for all will continue to hold, particularly as states debate a new post-2015 agenda that will determine the mandates and resources of different UN agencies for more than a decade to come.

The public sector and equality

After years of neglect, inequality is back on the political agenda. The International Labour Organization has proposed the introduction of so-called social protection floors to tackle poverty in the age of globalization. However, little attention has been paid to the role of the public sector for limiting inequality. This is surprising in the light that new research shows the positive impact of public services such as health care and education for improving or maintaining equality. In some countries, access to public services is even more important in terms of redistribution than taxes and social benefits. Yet while the public sector hardly plays a role in discussions on equality, equality is mostly absent in the debates on public sector reforms. Here the main focus of the discussion is efficiency. The purpose of this article is twofold: on the one hand, it introduces the public sector as a major factor into the debates about inequality; on the other, it sheds light on the consequences of privatization, liberalization, and marketization of public services for equality.

The ILO Social Protection Floors Recommendation 202, and poverty reduction

This article critically assesses the provisions of ILO Recommendation 202 on social protection floors with a view to ascertaining its efficacy for poverty reduction in poor regions. The article discusses the relevant provisions of the Recommendation and how states, particularly those in developing regions, can translate them to a tool for poverty reduction. The article highlights some of the deficiencies of ILO Recommendation 202 and provides some suggestions for ways forward.

Are Recipients of Social Assistance 'Benefit Dependent'? Concepts, Measurement and Results for Selected Countries

Means-tested Social Assistance (SA) benefits play an important role as social protection floors supporting households in financial difficulties. This paper presents evidence on the patterns of SA benefit receipt in a selection of OECD and EU countries. It provides an overview of the role of SA benefits in social protection systems and assesses the generosity of benefit payments. It then studies the dynamics of SA benefit receipt based on micro-level data describing trends in aggregate receipt and transition rates and presenting new evidence on spell durations and repeat spells. The final part of the paper summarizes recent empirical evidence on state dependence (or 'scarring effects') in benefit receipt and discusses its possible sources and policy implications.

Bob Deacon: Global Social Policy in the Making: The Foundations of the Social Protection Floor. Policy Press

Bob Deacon: Global Social Policy in the Making: The Foundations of the Social Protection Floor. Policy Press

Career, charisma, conviction and the challenges facing the Social Protection Floor

Career, charisma, conviction and the challenges facing the Social Protection Floor

The Social Protection Floor: What place for care?

The Social Protection Floor: What place for care?

The international labour movement and the Global Social Protection Floor

The international labour movement and the Global Social Protection Floor

Main Factors for a Proposal for a Social Protection Floor

This paper makes a proposal for a basic income (BI) to cover the essential needs of citizens. First the factors that determine the amount spent on essential needs by individuals in Spain in 2010 are examined. Then the factors (number of family members, number of dependents, region of residence, characteristics of head of household, etc.) that determine essential needs are analyzed, based on the Spanish Household Budget Survey (2010), using quantile regression. The regression results are then used to draw up a BI proposal taking household type into account. The aim is to determine the amount of BI needed to protect people from social risks and the resulting insecurities while covering essential needs using those main factors. BI may thus be a powerful tool for combating poverty and inequality. Its main purpose is to meet the essential needs of individuals, so it could be used as a measure to guarantee a basic level of social and economic security for all members of society in place of current minimum income grants and other social benefits.

Replantear el discurso: De la restricción a la libre migración

<p>Los efectos planetarios del cambio climático claman por un cambio en el discurso. La economía, con sus acostumbrados presupuestos simplificadores, tales como <em>ceteris paribus</em> y <em>pari passu</em> está mal preparada para entender los desafíos emergentes. Los movimientos de personas entre las fronteras es uno de esos desafíos en donde las nuevas ideas son esenciales. Este artículo reflexiona acerca de la conveniencia de abrir todas las fronteras a los flujos migratorios y extender los derechos a un piso de protección social y a un ingreso básico para todos. De no hacerlo, es probable que lleve a la humanidad a un sufrimiento de magnitud sin precedente. Diseñar y negociar estas iniciativas debe empezar ahora para impedir el desastre humanitario.</p>