Nations should work out new deal for informal workers
Marty Chen
The Covid-19 crisis presents an opportunity for another New Deal.
In the early 1930s, US president Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal in an attempt to combat the effects of the Great Depression. The programme had three main pillars: relief (for the unemployed), recovery (of the economy and job creation), and reform (through new regulations and social-welfare programmes).
The Covid-19 crisis presents an opportunity for another New Deal — one that recognises, protects, and supports informal workers, who comprise 61 per cent of the global workforce but have no health insurance, paid sick leave, or pensions. Most of these workers produce essential goods such as food, milk, clothing, shoes, and housing, or provide crucial services like healthcare, childcare, eldercare, cleaning, delivery, transport, waste management, and food distribution.