LIST OF PANELS

Despite 20th century predictions to the contrary, the prevalence of informal work has not diminished over time and in fact remains a critical issue in the 21st century. Today, work in the informal economy comprises over 60% of the global workforce, and is characterized by serious decent work deficits and low resilience to economic crises. Social security is a longstanding human right, and in recent years, the global community has acknowledged the need to design and implement social protection systems that meet the persistent reality of a large population of working poor people engaged in the informal economy. Yet, as of 2020, only 47% per cent of the global population were effectively covered by at least one social protection benefit.

This proposed panel seeks to explore and highlight emerging and evidence-based approaches to dismantling persistent barriers to effective social protection of informal workers, including but not limited to: policy design, low levels of awareness and trust, administrative hurdles, and lack of worker representation and organization.

The informal economy is broad and diverse – it includes dependent waged employment and own account work, rural and urban work, and employment across economic sectors in diverse contexts around the world. To formalize all workers’ right to social protection, it’s critical that researchers and policymakers identify specific obstacles that different types of informal workers face, hypothesize and test measures that can overcome these obstacles, and ultimately develop a set of evidence-based practices for policy design and implementation to share with policymakers and practitioners around the  globe.

This panel will be chaired by researchers from the WORLD Policy Analysis Center (WORLD) at the University of California, Los Angeles. WORLD works to strengthen equal rights and opportunities by (1) identifying effective policy approaches, (2) improving the quantity and quality of global  comparative policy indicators available to policymakers, citizens, civil society, and researchers, and (3) working in partnership to support positive, evidence-based change in communities and countries worldwide. This panel will focus on empirical approaches to better understanding and identifying barriers to social protection coverage of informal workers, and which approaches—national or otherwise—are successfully being designed and implemented to advance access to decent work and social protection.

Informal work comprises over 60% of the global workforce, and is characterized by a lack of labor rights and social protections. Social security is a longstanding human right, and in recent years, the global community has acknowledged the need to design and implement social protection systems that meet the persistent reality that a large population of working poor people are engaged in the informal economy. At the same time, the informal economy is broad and diverse – it includes dependent waged employment and own account work, rural and urban work, and employment across economic sectors in varied contexts around the world.  

This panel invites submissions designed to better understand, identify, and overcome barriers to effective social protection coverage of informal workers working in diverse contexts around the world. It specifically welcomes empirical examinations of approaches, national or otherwise, which are successfully being designed and implemented to advance access to decent work and social protection for informal workers in low- and middle-income countries. Submitted papers can address any of the wide range of barriers to effective social protection of informal workers broadly and in specific sectors, including but not limited to: policy design, low levels of awareness and trust, administrative hurdles, and lack of worker representation and organization.

This panel aims to include submissions from a wide range of disciplines and policy domains, and encourages empirical research on policy and intervention measures in diverse economic contexts worldwide.