Social Protection, Taxation, and Employment (SPTE)

Source details

Title: Social Protection, Taxation, and Employment (SPTE).
Presented by the Fiscal Affairs Department.
Purpose: Provide an overview of the impact of labor taxation and social protection systems on employment outcomes in advanced and emerging European countries, with an emphasis on reform options and associated tradeoffs.
Central challenges highlighted:
- Labor markets constrained by demographic trends, low labor-force participation (particularly among females and young people), and weak productivity growth.
- Undeclared work remains a significant challenge, leaving many individuals without social protection and reducing revenue collection.
- Consideration by many governments to reduce labor taxation to boost employment and reduce the size of undeclared work, which generates financing needs for social protection systems that must be strengthened to provide adequate support at scale.

Target audience:
- Officials at Ministries of Finance, Labor, and Social Affairs, and Social Security Institutions involved in the analysis, design and implementation of labor taxes and social benefits.
Qualifications:
- Participants are expected to have a degree in social science (e.g., economics or social policy) or a related field.

Upon completion, participants should be able to:
- Understand key issues in labor taxation and social benefits that are critical for promoting employment and reducing undeclared work.
- Design a package of reforms customized for their own countries' parameters, including administrative capacity to reach workers and households with social benefits and tax invoices.

Policy tradeoffs and reform considerations emphasized:
- Reducing labor taxation can boost employment and reduce undeclared work but creates financing pressures for social protection systems.
- Strengthening social protection systems is necessary when taxation changes to ensure adequate support to workers and households at scale.
- Administrative capacity to reach workers and households with social benefits and tax invoices is a core design constraint for reforms.

Executive Training 2 on Fiscal Policy Considerations (FPA)
- English | November 29, 2026 - December 3, 2026 | In-person Training | Kuwait City, Kuwait
Institutional Sector Accounts-Advanced - Blended (ISA-A)
- English | February 1-12, 2027 | Blended Training | Washington, D.C., United States