We need a better social safety net

FAIHAN GHANI/The Star

IN the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequential effects on the economy, concerns have been raised about the sufficiency of social protection, particularly retirement savings, for informal sector workers. These include the self-employed, domestic workers and temporary or part-time workers. The informal sector makes up 9.4% of total employment in Malaysia.

Briefly, social protection refers to policies, programmes and measures aimed at ensuring a basic standard of living for the people and protecting them from major shocks such as a serious illness, an injury and unemployment.