The Covid-19 crisis is an opportunity to update social safety nets in countries around the globe to better serve nontraditional workers such as the self-employed. That was one policy recommendation for world governments in the “Social Impact Report 2020” released Monday by the World Employment Confederation, the organization representing the staffing industry on a global level.
Nontraditional workers are more vulnerable during the pandemic, but not all have access to social safety nets, the report said.
Only an average 56% of self-employed workers globally have access to social safety net benefits such as unemployment, paid sick leave, general healthcare insurance, pensions and other programs, according to the report. In comparison, an average of 92% of staffing firm workers do and 93% of traditionally employed workers do.
“The safety nets built for the 20th century labor market do not work any longer,” Annemarie Muntz, president of the World Employment Confederation, said in a statement. “The variety of work arrangements to choose from today is larger than ever before, providing choice and flexibility to both employers and workers. But security and protection are equally important.”
The report cited three policy recommendations for world governments:
- Basic minimum levels of social protection need to be available and accessible to all workers irrespective of their work arrangement.
- The Covid-19 crisis provides an opportunity to speed up the innovation of safety nets to accommodate all and by sharing costs, benefits and risks proportionally.
- Through social dialogue, the private employment services industry has developed initiatives to provide protections for a dynamic workforce, offering inspiration on how safety nets can be reformed to cover workers moving between jobs and across sectors.
The report, available online, includes data from 42 countries, including the US.