Social Protection and Informal Workers: Looking Ahead to Thailand's Social Governance

Abstract

The term "social protection" is ambiguous and misleading to both academics and practitioners due to the International Labor Organization's (ILO) and World Bank's proposals over the last two decades. The aim of this article is to compare international journal articles to those published in Thailand and to provide ways to improve and enhance social protection for informal workers in Thailand. Due to the fact that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Universal Social Protection have been on the global agenda since 2015, the article involves a meta-synthesis technique using SAGE and Wiley Blackwell databases, with a time period of 2016 to 2020, and evaluation using Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklists. The findings indicate that the direction of the study uncovered various groups, welfare scheme characteristics, and formalization strategies, but these are all related to job and income insecurities. Looking back to Thailand, the suggestions to the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security are complicated tasks aimed at improving existing welfare and addressing current issues. As a result, the public sector must review circumstances since previous approaches did not work in all scenarios and expand new instruments such as social assistance, social insurance, and labor market regulation.