Guidebook for policymakers, workers’ and employers’ organizations and other stakeholders

Extending social security to workers in the informal economy: Lessons from international experience

For most workers in the informal economy, the lack of social protection is a challenge not only in their daily struggles to make ends meet but in their aspirations to obtain decent work, rights and dignity. For the societies in which they live, the lack of social protection coverage weakens social justice and undermines inclusive growth and the realization of human rights.

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The main objective of this guidebook is to provide policymakers, workers’ and employers’ organizations and other stakeholders with a practical tool to help them in developing viable policy options to address the many challenges of extending social protection to workers in the informal economy and facilitating transitions to formality. It aims to address and remove the barriers that prevent workers in some forms of employment from being protected and also to encourage transitions from the informal to the formal economy.

This guidebook is particularly relevant for national dialogues on social protection policies and strategies.