Social insurance schemes for informal and ‘gig’ workers: Chatham House’s Christopher Sabatini

Today’s social insurance programs largely exclude informal and ‘gig economy’ workers. Reforms will need, among other things, to fill this gap by expanding the coverage of voluntary, individualized social insurance to these sectors, stated a report published by Chatham House’s Senior Research Fellow for Latin America, US, and the Americas Programme, Christopher Sabatini. Given that fiscal pressures associated with the pandemic will make it difficult for governments to subsidize new schemes sufficiently, there is a role for the G20 and international financial institutions to provide assistance, for example through conditional loans, grants and debt relief, he warned. Key Takeaways The COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating economic and social insecurity for more than 2 billion people – the vast bulk of them in developing countries – employed in the […]