Decent Work for All ASIAN DECENT WORK DECADE Contribution of the SPF to employment and employability Valerie Schmitt, 29 September 2010

Social protection floor A set of basic social rights, services and facilities that each member of society should enjoy A SPF should consist of: Notion of availability and accessibility – both work hand in hand Availability of essential services: -Housing, WATSAN, -Education/skills, -Health care supply, -Food/Nutrition, … Accessibility of these services through basic transfers in cash or in kind: -Subsidized health insurance / health cards, -Scholarships & school buses, -Minimum income support to families (family/child benefits), the working poor (cash transfers and PWPs) and the elderly (minimum pensions) …

1. SPF is a precondition for employment and increases employability Easier to find a decent job Vocational training & other measures to increase employability more effective More employable & productive Availability & Access to essential services: -Housing, WATSAN, -Education/skills, -Health care supply, -Food/Nutrition, … Being fit & educated

2. SPF removes barriers of access to employment & vocational training Social exclusion: Poor are too poor to seek jobs & undertake training The poor face multiple barriers: -Transportation costs -Live in a remote area with no transportation means -Single mothers with children and no family support -Sick / Chronically ill with no access to health care The social protection floor helps to remove the barriers: -Minimum income to face expenses related to job seeking -Family benefits to cover child care expenses -Access to basic health care -Decent living conditions (housing, food) … People who combine multiple disadvantages need to be “supported with sufficient resources and personalized employment and social services, to help them participate in society and become more employable”

If the recipient fulfills certain conditions: -Seek and accept jobs -Register in a job center -Undertake training -Undertake work beneficial for the community (PWPs) 3. SPF can be used as a tool for activating Labour Market Policies  The social services and transfers are becoming conditional to a certain behavior of the recipient  The SPF is a tool for activating Labour Market Policy Are only provided: minimum income (ex: RSA), family benefits, priority access to basic crèches/child care When the social services & transfers:  The chances of finding a new job are increased

Labour Market Policies Definition: “all kinds of economic and regulative policies that influence the interaction between labour supply and demand” Passive LMPs: transfers without work requirement Active LMPs: transfers with conditions, ex: –The recipients have to seek and accept jobs –They have to follow training programmes –They have to undertake work beneficial for the community (workfare) Ex: NREGA in India

Example of ALMP: India National Rural Empl. Guarantee Act –Legal guarantee for 100 days of employment per year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work at the minimum wage of Rs. 100 per day (3 US $) XwV1g –Minimum income security + Inclusion in Labour Market

Example of ALMP: France Revenu de Solidarite Active (RSA) –Finding a new job entails costs (transportation, child care, clothes, etc.) –Before the RSA: the Minimum income was stopped as soon as the unemployed founded a new job  disincentive to active seek and accept jobs –With the RSA: the minimum income continues (although reduced); the basic salary of the working poor is supplemented so that they have an incentive to work (as compared to those who benefit from basic social transfers without working). Martin Hirsh RSA’s father

The virtuous cycle Unemployed Underemployed Inactive Social protection floor -Basic services -Social transfers Labour Market policies -Employment services -Vocational Services + Increased consumption (AVT) Paying taxes Paying social contributions Redistribution & funding of social services (Decent) Jobs in the formal sector and informal economy Employability Higher level of social protection

Implementing synergies between Social services and LMPs In many Asian countries the identification and selection of beneficiaries of Social assistance programs AND Labour market Policies are done by different institutions with no coordination  Idea of “One stop shops” The same social workers would take care of vulnerable families in a holistic way: –identify training needs of the parents –direct them to job centres & training opportunities –assess vulnerability level for the calculation of the cash transfer –make sure that the conditions are fulfilled (children in school, etc.) –provide access to the SPF: distribution of health cards, food, family allowances, CCTs, etc

Implementing synergies between Social services and LMPs The ILO has started working on these linkages from a theoretical point of view and gets inspiration from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, India, France … The ILO has experience on the different elements (Basic social protection, Job creation, Training and job placement) through STEP, TREE, EAST and other projects We would like to pilot this integrated approach in at least one province in Indonesia If you are working on these linkages or interested please come to see me

THANK YOU! Discussion… Thank you!