November 2024
21Nov

How India’s Gig Worker Unions Are Fighting for Change

Syed Lateefuddin was only in the first week of his job as a driver for Uber when an early dawn ride changed his life. Lateefuddin, who is Muslim, accepted a ride around 3:30 am and was driving across the streets of southern India’s metropolis of Hyderabad—home to 11 million people and located about 440 miles east of Mumbai—when six men accosted him. The men trailed him and later attacked him, forcing him to chant Hindu religious slogans and pelting his car...

November 21, 2024
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15Nov

Can Flexible Jobs Drive the Future of Work? Lessons from MENA

By Carole Chartouni, Khalid Moheyddeen, Ramy Zeid, Rada Naji & Montserrat Pallares-Miralles The evolving nature of work is prompting a global shift towards more adaptable and flexible employment practices. Work is no longer only a place you go to for a 9 to 5 job – it is transforming into a dynamic concept as an ever-growing number of people are gravitating towards flexible employment models, often referred to as non-standard forms of employment (NSEs). Growing evidence shows that as people increasingly value...

November 15, 2024
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12Nov

Nigeria. Micro Pension Subscribers To Get Free Health Insurance Cover

There are strong indications that Micro Pension Plan(MPP) subscribers in the country will soon get free health insurance cover as part of benefits of subscribing to the micro pension scheme. To this end, LEADERSHIP learnt that the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has had meetings with health insurance stakeholders, comprising the National Health Insurance Agency (NHIA) and some Health Management Organisations(HMOs) on the possibility of procuring this cover for subscribers of the scheme. Hence, the cost of the annual basic health cover...

November 12, 2024
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October 2024
25Oct

Beyond Informal Employment: Stagnation and Disguised Employment in Brazil

By Carolina Troncoso Baltar, Esther Dweck, Marilia Marcato & Camila Unis Krepsky This study analyses the Brazilian labour market from 2014 to 2019, focusing on the impact of the country's growth pattern on rising informal and self-employment. After a period of economic growth, Brazil faced a recession (2015-2016) and stagnation (2016-2019). Austerity-driven reforms were implemented, weakening policies aimed at stimulating growth, reducing unemployment, and improving formalization. Using structural decomposition analysis within a demand-driven input-output model, the study examines how changes in demand...

October 25, 2024
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25Oct

Kenya. Workers in informal sector to receive regulated wages, pension in new govt plan

The government has announced that workers in the informal sector will soon begin saving for their retirement and receive medical coverage through an expanded social protection programme. Speaking on Thursday during the launch of a social protection project funded by China in Nairobi, Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua said the new plan, which is set for immediate implementation, is expected to benefit Kenya's 16 million informal-sector workers. This will be done by introducing regulated minimum wages and mandating...

October 25, 2024
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18Oct

Platform workers: a new era of labour protection in Singapore

The Platform Workers Act coming into effect on 1 January 2025 will be a game-changer in Singapore’s labour landscape.  It marks a significant step towards recognising the unique circumstances of platform workers and providing them with essential protections. As one of the first countries to establish specific safeguards for this growing workforce, Singapore is demonstrating its commitment to adapting labour laws to the evolving digital economy. Understanding Platform Workers and Platform Operators The Act defines “platform workers” as individuals who contract...

October 18, 2024
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10Oct

How many Canadians are gig workers?

More than one in five (22%) Canadians are participating in gig work of various kinds across the country. That equates to about 7.3 million adults finding work outside of regular employment. And they are doing it for a variety of reasons, reports Securian Canada, with more than half (57%) — or roughly four million people — relying on this type of work to supplement their primary income. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of all gig workers are either employed full-time or part-time outside...

October 10, 2024
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09Oct

New ILO report highlights urgent need for improved labour and social protection for domestic workers in ASEAN

A new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) highlights the critical need to improve labour and social protection for domestic workers across the 10-member Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) region. The report entitled Labour rights and social protection coverage for domestic workers in ASEAN  finds that despite their essential role in supporting households and economies, domestic workers, many of whom are women and migrants face significant gaps in protections that affect their well-being and economic security. There are about 38.3 million domestic...

October 9, 2024
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04Oct

Labor Market Gender Gaps in Türkiye: A Bird’s Eye View

By Silvia Domit & Damla Kesimal Despite recent improvements, Türkiye’s low female labor force participation and high share of informal female workers stand out internationally. Closing these gender gaps would boost medium-term growth and make it more inclusive. This paper puts these gaps in an international context, explores their interlinkages with fiscal policies, and identifies policy priorities. Source SSRN

October 4, 2024
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04Oct

Assessing Immigration Impacts in Developing Countries. The Case of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon

By Riccardo Magnani & Marie-Claude KAMAR This article analyzes the effects of low-skilled immigration in developing countries characterized by a large informal sector, high unemployment (especially among highly educated people), and low participation of women in the labor force. We use an OLG model to account for the general equilibrium linkages between the immigration shock, the level of wages and employment, the education choice, and the emigration choice made by natives. The model includes search and matching frictions in the...

October 4, 2024
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