VIENTIANE, Lao PDR (ILO News) – Up to 17,000 garment workers in Lao PDR affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are to each receive two months’ emergency income support worth 900,000 LAK (approximately US$100).
The Lao Social Security Organization (LSSO) today announced that one-time cash transfers totalling US$ 1.8 million would help mitigate workers’ lost income and support business continuity while reducing employers’ staff turnover costs. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is funding the initiative, which has been developed with technical support from the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Eligible beneficiaries, of whom 85 percent are women, will receive the cash transfers by the end of March.
“This support not only benefits workers and garment factories, it also helps strengthen the administrative capacity and payment mechanism of the social security system, as well as enhancing social dialogue and tripartite collaboration in Lao PDR,” said Padeumphone Sonthany, vice minister of labour and social welfare.
… The pandemic has greatly increased demand on Lao PDR’s unemployment insurance scheme, with the garment sector alone seeing more than a threefold increase in payments, rising from 406.58 million LAK in 2019 (approximately US$ 44,000) to 1.33 billion LAK during COVID-19 (approximately US$143,000). Read more here.
