De-facto Gaps in Social Protection for Standard and Non-standard Workers: An Approach for Monitoring the Accessibility and Levels of Income Support

Herwig Immervoll, Rodrigo Fernandez (), Raphaela Hyee (), Jongmi Lee () and Daniele Pacifico
Additional contact information
Rodrigo Fernandez: OECD
Raphaela Hyee: OECD
Jongmi Lee: OECD
Daniele Pacifico: OECD

No 15289, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Social protection systems play a key stabilising role for individuals and societies, especially in the recent context of heightened uncertainties. Income stabilisation and related social policy objectives hinge on the extent to which social protection is accessible for those requiring support. This paper proposes a new empirical approach for quantifying the accessibility and value of income transfers following an earnings loss. It first presents a methodology for assessing support levels for jobless individuals in specific circumstances that allows for comparisons across countries and over time. It then illustrates the approach using longitudinal survey data in 16 OECD countries. The illustration focusses on differences in entitlements between people who were in "standard" and "non-standard" employment prior to joblessness. Results show that, prior to the COVID pandemic, income support gaps between standard and non-standard workers were often sizeable. For instance, in Korea, job losers with prior standard employment were nearly twice as likely to receive income support as otherwise similar individuals with a history of non-standard work. Gaps were also large in Italy and Portugal. By contrast, gaps were statistically insignificant in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Hungary and the United Kingdom. As these latter countries follow very different social protection strategies, results suggest that limiting support gaps for non-standard workers is achievable with different policy designs and targeting mechanisms.

Keywords: coverage; cash benefits; social insurance; redistribution; poverty; adequacy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C31 C35 H53 H55 I38 J65 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2022-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ias and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Working Paper: De-facto gaps in social protection for standard and non-standard workers: An approach for monitoring the accessibility and levels of income support (2022)
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