#10 The Future of Work and the Missing Middle

Informal Economy Podcast: Social Protection

In this episode, we invited Christina Behrendt. Christina, head of the Social Policy Unit at the ILO, to talk about the relations between the Future of Work and the challenges to extend social protection to the so-called “missing middle”, the informal economy workers. We discussed how policies to provide social protection to informal workers can help the debate around forms of work associated to the so-called gig economy, and whether universal basic income might offer an alternative to this configuration of work. - ILO Global Social Protection Week Page: https://www.ilo.org/secsoc/information-resources/meetings-and-events/WCMS_715348/lang--en/index.htm - Global Social Protection Week Agenda https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---soc_sec/documents/publication/wcms_717366.pdf WIEGO’s page on the Global Social Protection Week: https://www.wiego.org/events/global-social-protection-week - WIEGO Briefing Note: “Extending Social Protection to Informal Workers” http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/Social%20Protection%20Informal%20Workers%20for%20web_0.pdf - WIEGO Working Paper No 37: “Informal Workers & The Future of Work: A Defence of Work-Related Social Protection” , by Laura Alfers, Francie Lund and Rachel Moussié http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/Alfers_Informal_Workers_Social_Protection_WIEGO_WP37.pdf - WIEGO position statement: “A Future of Work for All: WIEGO’s Position on the ILO Centenary” http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/WIEGO%20Position%20on%20ILO%20Centenary%202019_06June.pdf - Blog: Informal workers and taxes: What "tax justice" looks like from below, by Mike Rogan https://www.wiego.org/blog/informal-workers-and-taxes-what-tax-justice-looks-below - Journal article: Ensuring universal social protection for the future of work by Christina Behrendt https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1024258919857031?af=R&ai=1gvoi&mi=3ricys - Innovative approaches for ensuring universal social protection for the future of work, by Christina Behrendt and Quynh Anh Nguyen https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---cabinet/documents/publication/wcms_629864.pdf - ILO Social Protection Report (2017-2019): Universal social protection to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_604882.pdf - World Bank: Universal health coverage and the challenge of informal employment : lessons from developing countries, by Ricardo Bitran http://www.wiego.org/publications/universal-health-coverage-and-challenge-informal-employment-lessons-developing-countrie - ILO Recommendation 202: Social Protection Floors https://www.ilo.org/secsoc/areas-of-work/legal-advice/WCMS_205341/lang--en/index.htm - ILO Recommendation 204: The Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy https://www.ilo.org/ilc/ILCSessions/previous-sessions/104/texts-adopted/WCMS_377774/lang--en/index.htm *Our theme music is Focus from AA Aalto (Creative Commons)