2.5.2. Welfare and social support

The citizen distributed the food provision for the poor people impacted by the COVID-19 large scale social restriction in Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia © Shutterstock

Coverage gaps are also linked to the fact that most social protection schemes focus on salaried workers, largely excluding self-employed and informal workers that in these regions represent the majority.

a green, inclusive and resilient recovery. Given that “the world of work will not and should not look the same” once cities emerge from the pandemic, policy makers must address “the fragilities and fault lines exposed by the crisis”.90

2.5.2. Welfare and social support

In the absence of well-functioning social protection systems that allow for the vast majority to remain adequately housed, compensated in the absence of employment and with their basic set of needs fulfilled, governments deployed an array of emergency measures to combat the spread of the disease while at the same time provide economic relief to make up for the gaps in existing social provision. In many cases, however, the effectiveness of social protection schemes as a crisis response instrument has been limited given the absence of wage subsidies and unemployment schemes in place. Effective coverage of social welfare for the unemployed is particularly limited in the Asia and the Pacific region (22.5 per cent), the Americas (16.7 per cent) and Africa (5.6 per cent).91 Coverage gaps are also linked to the fact that most social protection schemes focus on salaried workers, largely excluding selfemployed and informal workers that in these regions represent the majority.

The lack of health protection and income security during sickness forces workers in the informal economy to work even when they are sick, thereby not only putting at risk their own health but also potentially undermining public health efforts to curb the virus. Many states have sought to guarantee income security for workers excluded from existing schemes by adopting emergency measures including adapting eligibility criteria and qualifying conditions as temporary or permanent measures. Where existing social protection conditions are not available or cannot be extended, some countries have quickly introduced new emergency measures to provide income support for workers who are not eligible for unemployment benefits, in particular workers in high risk employments such as part-time workers, those temporary employed, self-employed and workers in the informal economy. However, in many cases, the income support provided to date has not been adequate to meet the urgent needs of workers in the informal economy. Countries with a large informal economy may not have the institutional and financial capacities to cover all informal economy workers.