Public employment programmes and their interface with social protection

Unemployment and underemployment contribute significantly to poverty and inequality and increase the demand on social protection systems. One policy response is to establish special employment programmes, also known as public works programmes or public employment programmes (PEPs). PEPs are sometimes presented as a preferred alternative to cash transfers, to limit what is framed as ‘grant-dependency’, with participation in work a form of conditionality for support. Yet PEPs come out of a different tradition, focused on full employment and the right to work. They are positioned as part of employment policies that create work where market demand for labour is low, as part of the social contract. This chapter draws on several case studies to explore how these different paradigms influence design choices and outcomes. It argues that instead of posing PEPs and cash transfers as binary alternatives, more integrated approaches that optimise their complementarities may yield stronger development outcomes.