The Labor Social Protection Expert Group was constituted under the aegis of Ehsaas, the government’s signature social protection program. The Group is mandated to give evidence-based but feasible and practical recommendations regarding extension of social protection services to the informal labor sector in the first phase of its working. The Expert Group has met four times since its creation including twice this week. Key labor stakeholders have been attending meetings consistently. These include Mr. Zahoor Awan, Secretary General of the Pakistan Workers Federation;Ingrid Christensen, Country Director International Labor Organization; Majyd Aziz, President Employer’s Federation Pakistan; Chief Poverty, Planning Commission, Shahid Naeem;Provincial Directors of Labor Departments, and Federal secretaries of the Poverty Alleviation & Social Safety Division and the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development.Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection & Poverty Alleviation, sat in both meetings this week. Earlier this week on May 27th, in its 3rdmeeting the Pakistan Bureau of Statistic gave a detailed presentation on the Labor Force Survey (LFS), highlighting the methodology used for conducting the LFS. The group decided to increase the sample size to enable data disaggregation by category of informal groups, to inform policy in the future. Several presentations were made in both the meetings this week by provincial Labor departments. The group was of the unanimous opinion that the first problem to tackle is the informal worker and, therefore, the key matter under consideration related to registration of informal workers. International experiences were discussed, in particular the Brazilian model, where the government has been successful in formalizing the informal economy. Implementation of the Domestic Workers Bill in Philippines was also presented as an example. Dr. Sania Nishtar, said that the government’s main focus was on developing social security solutions for the informal sector as an entry point to labor force public policy. At the conclusion of the first meeting she stated that there are several categories of informal labour sector; those that are self-employed, home-based and domestic workers, but the most serious issue is one of enterprises not registering themselves. As the result of this, their workers cannot benefit from social security entitlements. Better governance of the labour market is a necessary prerequisite to create social welfare solutions for the informal sector. She urged the LabourExpert Group to come up with ‘disruptive’ but ‘constructive’ solutions to challenge status quo. The second meeting of the LabourExpert Group this week was held on May 30th, where a presentation was given on international best practices in extending social services to the private sector. The group was presented examples of laws and regulations that have worked in other parts of the world.Provincial examples were studied in depth in both the meetings. The group is scheduled to convene after Eid and will come up with final recommendations and a plan for formalizing the informal sector. *****
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