Speaker

Dr Hannah Dawson
PDF/Researcher
SWOP/CSDA

Social protection for gig workers in Africa and beyond: what can we learn from the Covid-19 pandemic?

Abstract Narrative

“This Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly exposed the vulnerability and lack of social protection for informal workers and growing numbers of workers in the gig economy—those performing work for digital platforms like Uber, Uber Eats and SweepSouth. Most informal workers, like many in the gig economy, had to deal with reduced (or in some cases, no) income for several months during the pandemic and the resultant national lockdowns. In most countries gig or platform workers are not, or are only partially, covered by labour law and have been unable to access the support offered to formal employees, like sick pay and unemployment benefits, since they are largely viewed as independent contractors.

While a small number of platforms—for example, SweepSouth and M4Jam– have tried to put measures in place to cushion the economic impact of the pandemic—the majority of platforms have taken no responsibility to compensate workers for the loss of earnings. Some governments implemented new cash transfer schemes and expanded unemployment benefits to informal workers—for example, the Temporary Employer-Employee Relief scheme (TERS) and Covid-19 grant in South Africa—in response to the pandemic.
While these Covid-19 relief measures have been heralded as a positive development for informal workers, many gig workers have fallen through the cracks due to ‘employment-status limbo’ (Fairwork 2020). It is yet to be seen if these short-term relief measures can be leveraged to make social protection systems more comprehensive and inclusive of informal and gig workers.
There is currently no consensus in South Africa, and many other parts of the world, about how to classify gig workers in terms of labour law and how to adapt both contributory (social insurance) and non-contributory (social assistance) social protection schemes to include increasingly vulnerable gig workers. While it is clear that a system-wide approach is necessary to guarantee protection for these workers, the jury is still out on who should be responsible for providing social protection for gig workers. There have been growing calls for the introduction of social protection floors (ILO 2016) and the strengthening of social protection systems, including basic income schemes, which can reduce the economic insecurity associated with new forms of digital work (ILO 2020; World Bank 2019). However, concerns have been raised about an approach that shifts responsibility to the state and circumvents the role of employers (Alfers 2018; Meagher 2018), with concerns of basic income providing a subsidy for low wages (Castelo-Branco 2020).
The purpose of this round-table is to generate debate on the future of social protection beyond Covid-19 and the policy options for strengthening contributory and/or non-contributory schemes to include gig workers. The speakers will cover the following topics: (i) challenges faced by gig workers in accessing existing social protection schemes and Covid-19 relief measures; (ii) the advantages and disadvantages of different policy options to extend coverage to gig workers—such as re-structuring contributory and non-contributory systems to include excluded groups, the extension of employer responsibility, and the implementation of a universal basic income; and (iii) issues of institutionalization, digital technology, and financing. We expect the roundtable to attract a broad range of academics, activists and policy-makers.

Invited speakers:
Christina Behrendt, head of the Social Protection Unit at the International Labour Organisation (ILO)

Laura Alfers, Director of the Social Protection Programme, Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO)
Prof. Jean-Paul van Belle, Director for the Centre for Information Technology and National Development in Africa (CITANDA) in the Department of Information Systems at the University of Cape Town
Prof. Rina Argawala, Professor of Sociology at John Hopkins University

Prof. Kate Meagher, Professor in Development Studies at the London School of Economics

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Biography

Dr Hannah J. Dawson is a Senior Researcher at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS) at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her research interests includeyouth unemployment, informal and precarious work, gig work, inequality, the future of work,andmore expansive social protection/basic income. Hannah has a doctorate in Anthropology and an MPhil in International Development from Oxford University.

Hannah is working on two new collaborative projects, one focused on theimpact of digital technologies on the world of work(ers) in the Global South,and the implications for inequality, and another that examines the future of social protection policy for a world where work is increasingly unavailable or intermittent.Hannah also supervises postgraduate students on the MPhil in Social Policy and Development at the University of Johannesburg.

Hannah has previously worked in policy research, analysis and advocacy in the fields of development, socio-economic rights, and poverty and inequality in both research and civil society organisations.

Judy Oduor-Engels
Digital Economy Consultant

Social protection for gig workers in Africa and beyond: what can we learn from the Covid-19 pandemic?

Biography

Judyth Engels is a Digital Economy Consultant focusing on the nexus of advancing cross sectoral usage of
innovative digital technology to bridge gaps in emerging markets while leveraging gains from the expanding Digital Economy.
Working alongside diverse private, public and development partners, Ms Engels has led key projects including harnessing
the digital economy for online job creation and private sector development, payment digitization initiatives, provision of strategic advisory services
and conducted multiple small to large scale mapping studies to guide program design and implementation.
Previously, she held various roles in ICT4D, Cross Border Remittance strategy implementation and Mobile Money Business Operations.

Anh Quynh
Social Protection Technical Officer
International Labour Organization

Social protection for gig workers in Africa and beyond: what can we learn from the Covid-19 pandemic?

Biography

Quynh Anh Nguyen is Social Protection Technical Officer in the ILO’s Social Protection Department. Prior to her current post, she worked in the ILO Regional Office for Asia and Pacific in Bangkok. Holding a Master Degree in Economics from the University of London, she has worked and published on various aspects of social protection, including the extension of social protection to workers in the informal economy and in new forms of employment, including those working in the platform economy.

Mohammad Amir Anwar
Lecturer
University of Edinburgh

Social protection for gig workers in Africa and beyond: what can we learn from the Covid-19 pandemic?

Biography

Amir is a Lecturer at the Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh and a Research Associate at the University of Oxford and University of Johannesburg. He is a geographer by training and his work deals with the developmental impacts of globalisation. He writes about behind the scenes human labour in digital capitalism, future of work and workers, the global gig economy, and labour movements in Africa. He tweets at @ibalilebali.

Prof Lauren Graham
Director – CSDA
University of Johannesburg

Theme 8c

Laura Alfer
Director, Social Protection Programme
WIEGO

Social protection for gig workers in Africa and beyond – what we can learn from the COVID-19 pandemic

Biography

Laura Alfers is the Director of the global research-action-policy network, WIEGO and a Research Associate in the Department of Sociology at Rhodes University in Makhanda. She holds a PhD from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in social policy and development. For over ten years she has worked to support grassroots organizations of informal workers and the networks to advocate for more inclusive social protection and public services.