Bolstering Unemployment Insurance and Labour Market Policy Development in Myanmar (BUILD)

Unemployment protection

Unemployment protection schemes are key to ensure income security for workers, while alleviating the financial burden of enterprises. In particular, measures such as partial unemployment benefits that support enterprises’ in retaining their workers, have shown to not only help containing the rise in unemployment and the number of (full) unemployment recipients, but also to help to keep experienced workers so that employers can quickly start their operations again when there are first signs of recovery.

Objectives

The Project aims at creating conditions to implement the unemployment insurance scheme foreseen under the 2012 Social Security Law and to establish linkages with active labour market policies (ALMPs). It will conduct a series of policy research activities; and facilitate policy dialogues and capacity building based on knowledge and evidence produced through a number of research activities. In addition, it will develop activities to increase stakeholders’ understanding and awareness of the importance of social protection, in particular unemployment insurance, through the organization of knowledge sharing events.

Outcomes

The project is expected to deliver results in several complementary areas, by supporting the development of more robust financing of the social security system, setting the foundations for an unemployment insurance scheme, transferring knowledge and building national capacity and strengthening dialogue with relevant stakeholders towards policy development.

Planned activities

The strengthening of the existing unemployment protection scheme will follow a phased approach, with the first phase focusing on informed national dialogue, aiming at reaching a consensus on the key design elements of the strengthened system. This phase should integrate capacity building activities to ensure, as much as possible, the creation of a common knowledge ground among the various stakeholders that will participate in the discussion. A review of the legal framework, labour market and the existing institutions and arrangements should take place to inform this discussion.

The second phase will be focused on the development of feasibility studies to define the parameters for unemployment protection, such as benefit rate and benefit duration. The studies should include actuarial and legal assessments, and detailed recommendations for the institutional set-up and linkages with active labour market policies, in particular with regard to the requirement for the unemployed to register with the local labour exchange offices and SSB.

Operational aspects and issues related to the social security information system will also be addressed, in collaboration with other ILO projects, such as the ILO-Korea partnership programme, the ILO-Luxemburg project “Extension of Social Health Protection in South-East Asia” and the ILO/EC DEVCO project “Building a sustainable Social Protection Response to the Covid-19 crisis in Myanmar”.

Finally, to complement the income security function of the unemployment protection system, the project will also support the strengthening of the ALMP. The project follows the strategy to generate synergies among policy interventions by forging effective linkages among unemployment insurance, skills development, as well as public employment services.

For more information please contact:

Mr Ippei Tsuruga
Programme Manager
Email: tsuruga@ilo.org

Dr Thein Than Htay
National Project Coordinator
Email: theinthanhtay@ilo.org

Mr Saw U Ler Moo
National Project Coordinator
Email: moo@ilo.org