Harnessing the Power of Labour Law and Social Security Law to Achieve the Goal of Formalizing Labour Markets in the BRICS Countries

Abstract

The Declaration by the Labour and Employment Ministers of the BRICS countries, “Quality Jobs and Inclusive Employment Policies,” guarantees that formalization of labor markets is a global priority for the BRICS countries, as informal employment hampers productivity, potential economic growth and efforts to improve the welfare of populations worldwide. Taking into account this strategic goal, the authors analyze the informal employment processes in the BRICS countries and speculate on the transition from informal to formal employment. The article addresses the issues of inhomogeneous notional ranges used to define informal employment and recommends that the possibilities provided by labor legislation and government employment policy (such as increasing the number of formal working places and dynamic development of labor legislation directed at regulation of new employment forms) be used to tackle these issues. The potential of the social security right for achieving the goals of transition to a formal economy and social security coverage is characterized in detail; various legal forms of social security (for example, government social security, social insurance (mandatory as well as voluntary) and social support) are analyzed; and the possibilities of their application to informal workers in the BRICS countries are defined.