Social protection for developing countries: Can social insurance be more relevant for those working in the informal economy?

Smit, Nicola; Mpedi, Letlhokwa George

doi:10.4314/ldd.v14i1.4

Cited by 14 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…It ensures income security in the face of contingencies such as sickness, maternity, employment injury, unemployment, invalidity, old age and death of the breadwinner. The interest in extending social security coverage to informal workers is informed by realisation that most people in the world are not covered by any social security schemes (International Labour Organation, 2017), (Smit and Mpedi, 2010). Approximately, 71% of the world's population has partial or no access to comprehensive social protection systems (International Labour Organation, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors associated with willingness to pay for health insurance and pension scheme among informal economy workers in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Miti

Perkiö

Metteri

et al. 2020

IJSE

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to establish the main factors influencing willingness to pay for health insurance and pension schemes among informal workers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Historically, informal economy workers have been excluded from social protection coverage. There is a growing need, interest and policy discourse in LMICs to extend social security to informal economy workers. However, little is known about informal workers' willingness to pay (WTP) for social security services in different LMIC settings.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a systematic review and searched five databases from 1987 to 2017. Included papers focused on “social security”, “social insurance”, “pension”, “informal economy”, “informal sector” and “informal workers” in LMICs. Authors conducted independent data appraisal and data extraction. A total of 1790 papers were identified. After exclusion, 34 papers were included in the analysis. Given the heterogeneous results, the authors performed a narrative synthesis to consolidate the findings of the different studies.FindingsIn total, 34 studies from 17 countries were included in the review, out of which 23 studies focused on health insurance, 7 studies on pension schemes and 4 studies on social security in general. The study showed that income and trust were associated with WTP for both health insurance and pension schemes. In addition, family size, age, education and residential area were common factors for both forms of social security. For health insurance, experience of sickness, attitude and presence of medical doctors as well as distance from the healthcare facility all played a role in determining WTP. For pension schemes, low and flexible contribution rates, benefit package, government subsidies and quality of administration of the schemes influenced enrolment and contributions.Research limitations/implicationsMore evidence is needed for WTP for pensions among informal workers.Practical implicationsThe findings show that socio-economic differences, scheme-type (health or pension) and level of trust influence WTP for health insurance or pension among informal sector workers. The review results suggest that the factors influencing WTP for health insurance and pensions interplay in a complex web of relations. More evidence is needed on WTP for pensions among informal workers.Social implicationsFurther studies are particularly needed on the interrelationship of the influences to WTP, including gender issues, access barriers and socioeconomic factors, among program design issues for social security.Originality/valueThis paper is based on a systematic review methodology and contributes to the discourse on extending social security to informal economy workers based on evidence from various countries.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors associated with willingness to pay for health insurance and pension scheme among informal economy workers in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Miti

Perkiö

Metteri

et al. 2020

IJSE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…examples include registering homebased workers in India with the employees' Provident Fund (van ginneken, 1999) and domestic workers in Brazil with the National Social Security Institute (Malherbe, 2013). South africa has similarly introduced 'Sectoral Determinations' that extend unemployment insurance coverage to domestic workers (2002) and taxi industry workers (2005) and make their employers responsible for registering them with the UIF and paying employer's contributions (Smit and Mpedi, 2010). However, although Holmes and Scott (2016) report higher average hourly earnings and more written contracts among female domestic workers, only about a quarter of domestic workers are considered formal (that is, employers contribute to their health insurance or pension).…”

Section: Proposed Extensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban-Sensitive Social Protection: How Universalized Social Protection Can Reduce Urban Vulnerabilities Post COVID-19

Devereux

Cuesta

2021

Progress in Development Studies

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Experience with urban social protection programmes is relatively limited in the Global South. Extensions or duplicates of rural social assistance programmes do not reflect the distinct vulnerabilities of the urban poor, who face higher living costs and more precarious employment, and are not reached by social insurance schemes that are designed for formally employed workers. Neither the Sustainable Development Goals nor the New Urban Agenda reflect a specific focus on urban social protection. COVID-19 has exposed this major gap in coverage, given the disproportionate impact of lockdowns on the livelihoods of the urban poor. To ‘build back better’ post COVID-19, we propose rights-based national social protection systems with two components: categorical social assistance for non-working vulnerable groups (children, older persons, persons with disability) and universal social insurance for all working adults (formal, informal or self-employed), financed out of general revenues rather than mandatory contributions by employees and employers. These ideas are explored in the case of South Africa, which has comprehensive social assistance but inadequate social insurance for urban informal workers.

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“…The informal economy is growing rapidly in most developing countries (Giles, Wang and Park, 2013; Hu and Stewart, 2009; Kannan, 2010; Smit and Mpedi, 2015; Patankar and Patwardhan, 2016). Evidence shows that in Latin America and the Caribbean, the share of informal employment in non‐agricultural activities ranges from 39.8 per cent in Uruguay to 75.1 per cent in Bolivia.…”

Section: Informal Economy Workers In the Social Security Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pension coverage extension as social innovation in Zambia: Informal economy workers’ perceptions and needs

Miti

Perkiö

Metteri

et al. 2021

Int Social Security Review

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With the enactment of Statutory Instrument No. 72 (2019), Zambia is extending pension coverage to workers in the informal economy. We present evidence on the experiences and perspectives of domestic workers and bus and taxi drivers regarding pension scheme coverage in Zambia. We use data generated through interviews and focus group discussions. The analysis shows that pension schemes, as conventionally designed for formal economy employees, are not compatible with the values, beliefs and needs of informal economy workers, and pension coverage was not a priority for them. As a form of social innovation, extending access to pension coverage had a lower relative advantage and lacked incentives to attract informal economy workers. We propose a member-centred framework for initiating the extension of social security coverage to informal economy workers.

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Social protection for developing countries: Can social insurance be more relevant for those working in the informal economy?

Cited by 14 publications

References 5 publications

Factors associated with willingness to pay for health insurance and pension scheme among informal economy workers in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Factors associated with willingness to pay for health insurance and pension scheme among informal economy workers in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Urban-Sensitive Social Protection: How Universalized Social Protection Can Reduce Urban Vulnerabilities Post COVID-19

Pension coverage extension as social innovation in Zambia: Informal economy workers’ perceptions and needs

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