scholarly journals Informality in the time of COVID-19 in Latin America: Implications and policy options

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0261277
Author(s):  
Ivonne Acevedo ◽  
Francesca Castellani ◽  
Giulia Lotti ◽  
Miguel Székely
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Policy Options ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Considerable Impact ◽  
Tax Payments ◽  
The Stability

This paper analyzes the dynamics of the labor market in Latin America during the COVID-19 pandemic. After a decade of a virtuous circle of growth with the creation of formal jobs, the pandemic has had an considerable impact on the region’s labor market, generating an unparalleled increase in the proportion of the inactive population, considerable reductions in informality, and, in contrast, smaller fluctuations in formal jobs. In this context, the formal sector, given its lower flexibility, became a "social safety net" that preserved the stability of employment and wages. Based on the findings presented in this paper, it is projected that, starting in 2021, informality will grow to levels higher than those of the pre-COVID-19 era–with 7.56 million additional informal jobs–as a result of the population returning to the labor market to compensate for the declines in incomes. According to the simulations presented, postponing or forgiving income tax payments and social security contributions conditional on the generation of formal jobs could reduce the growth of informality by 50 to 75 percent. Achieving educational improvements has the potential to reduce it by 50 percent.

scholarly journals Labor Divides, Informality, and Regulation: The Public Opinion on Labor Law in Latin America

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Berens ◽  
Achim Kemmerling
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Labor Law ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Protective Function ◽  
Using Data

While scholarship on the politics of labor market divides and labor law in Latin America has bloomed in recent years, this literature rarely looks at the role of public opinion. Using data on public attitudes towards labor law for 18 Latin American countries, we start filling this gap. We follow the literature on labor market divides to see how far those at the margins of the formal labor market differ in their opinions from the formally employed. We find that large segments of the people perceive labor law as protective for workers, but there are also important divides: Whereas formal sector workers indeed assess the protective function of labor law positively, informal sector workers are more sceptical. Moreover, we find feedback effects of labor law on these differences of opinion. We conclude with a discussion how these divides in attitudes also have political effects, especially on voting behavior.

scholarly journals The parental home as labor market insurance for young Greeks during the Great Recession

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Rebekka Christopoulou ◽  
Maria Pantalidou
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Reverse Causality ◽  
Parental Home ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Labor market conditions in Greece have severely deteriorated during the crisis, affecting youths the most. Using the Greek crisis as a case-study, this paper examines the role of the family as a social safety net for its young members. Specifically, we test the relationship between youth labor outcomes and parental co-residence, whether this relationship has become stronger during the crisis, and the degree to which the relationship is causal. Our results confirm that the parental home is a refuge both for jobless youth and for those in poorly paid, insecure jobs, and this role has intensified during the crisis. We find no reverse causality between co-residence and employment status for young men, and significant reverse causality for women. This finding implies that all youths live in the parental home when they are in need themselves, but it is young women not men who live with parents when parents are in need or for cultural reasons.

scholarly journals The Consequences of Ambiguity: Designing and Implementing the ESSN

2021 ◽  
pp. 115-142
Author(s):  
Ceren Ark-Yıldırım ◽  
Marc Smyrl
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Basic Needs ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Limited Access ◽  
Forced Migrants ◽  
Stated Purpose ◽  
Vulnerable Persons

AbstractThe stated purpose of the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) was to contribute to meeting the basic needs of the most vulnerable refugees in Turkey. In the context of this book’s argument, we ask whether it achieved this goal but also whether and to what extent it contributed to extending elements of market citizenship to forced migrants. We conclude that while the ESSN’s CT program made a limited contribution to meeting basic needs and empowering displaced persons as consumers, other elements of market citizenship, or even “denizenship,” are lacking. With regard to its explicit targets, the effectiveness of ESSN was limited by the ambiguities of its design, linked to the different priorities of the agencies involved, which exclude some vulnerable persons from the program. More broadly, very limited access to the formal labor market remained an obstacle to fuller market citizenship.

scholarly journals Europe's Social Safety Net Under Pressure

2016 ◽  
Vol 115 (779) ◽  
pp. 102-107
Author(s):  
Giuliano Bonoli
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
European Social Model

It is [the] two-track labor market, rather than austerity, that is the biggest threat to the persistence of the European social model.

scholarly journals The Impact of Social Safety Net Programs on Poor Household Income

JEJAK ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-262
Author(s):  
Hengky S.H. Prayitno ◽  
Dwi Budi Santoso ◽  
Marlina Ekawaty
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Poverty Rate ◽  
Intervention Programs ◽  
Poor Household ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
Market Intervention

Indonesian government has established social safety net programs to reduce poverty and increase the productivity and income of poor households. Among other provinces in Indonesia, East Java has the highest poverty rate. Thus, this research aims to analyze the effectiveness of social safety net programs in reducing poverty rate in East Java. This research uses quantitative approach to measure the contribution of social safety net programs towards the income of poor households in East Java. This research employs equivalent simultaneous equation with three-stage least square (3SLS) method on secondary cross section data obtained from National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas), March 2015. This research calculates and analyzes the impacts of social aid, social protection and labor market intervention programs towards the income of poor household income. The results show that social aid and labor market intervention programs have positive implication on the income of poor households. On the other hand, social security has no significant implication. Moreover, social security provides a safety net when a household faces unexpected situation such as redundancy, accident and death. Social security programs prevent poor households for being poorer.

Reshaping Social Policy

2021 ◽  
pp. 166-176
Author(s):  
Mark Robert Rank ◽  
Lawrence M. Eppard ◽  
Heather E. Bullock
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Earned Income ◽  
Economic Assets

Chapter 20 discusses social policy changes necessary to effectively alleviate poverty in the United States. These include ensuring the availability of decent-paying jobs. Raising the minimum wage and raising the earned income tax credit are two approaches for increasing the wages of low-paying jobs. A second social policy initiative essential for reducing poverty is to provide an effective social safety net along with access to key social goods such as health care, affordable housing, and child care. Also discussed is the idea of a universal basic income. A final strategy discussed are policies that allow lower income households to build their economic assets.

Care Work on the Front Lines

2020 ◽  
Vol 119 (820) ◽  
pp. 326-328
Author(s):  
Mary F. E. Ebeling
Keyword(s):  
Nurse Practitioners ◽  
Outpatient Care ◽  
Care Facility ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Essential Work ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
The Us

An ethnographic study of the work of nurse practitioners at an outpatient care facility shows how these medical professionals must endlessly multitask to fill gaps in the US social safety net. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new focus on the essential work of nurses and the lack of resources with which they often contend is especially timely.

Regime of Fiscal Incorporation (RIF): A Tool That Gives Competitiveness to Start-Ups in Mexico

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1042-1046
Author(s):  
Tadeo Armando Barrón López ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Appropriate Use ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Start Ups

The following text will show the different tax forms for a newly created company to become competitive, analyze the subsidies they have in a federal tax (Income Tax), compare the tax incorporation regime (RIF) with The old regime of small taxpayers (REPECO), analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of the appropriate use of RIF for start-ups, and finally, the tax incorporation regime is compared with similar ones in Latin America, reflecting on tax contributions Which each government has to raise so that its governments are efficient and effective within a country.

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