Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
2012
Abstract
This paper employs a generational comparison to examine how increasing labor market informality has affected how poor households in Egypt gain access to and rely on social protection schemes. The results indicate that among the generation of Egyptians approaching retirement, the expansion of public employment and a policy allowing easy access to survivors’ benefits among female dependents served as important means of increasing social insurance coverage. However, many young households do not have even one member enrolled in the public pension system. Labor market instability and informality have also lowered the perceived value of social protection among this generation. The paper discusses five common points of vulnerability across the groups studied, all of which may create significant barriers to social protection access among poor households, and must be addressed if coverage rates are to be extended, or even maintained, in the future.
DOI
10.31899/pgy2.1090
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Sieverding, Maia. 2012. "A life course perspective on social protection among the working poor of Egypt," Gender and Work in the MENA Region Working Paper no. 24. Cairo: Population Council.