Download This PaperCOVID-19’s Impact on Enforcement Authorities’ Work and Priorities
28 Pages Posted: 28 Mar 2022
Date Written: October 1, 2021
Abstract
The eleventh meeting in plenary of the European Platform tackling undeclared work (the Platform) was held in Bratislava on 21-22 October 2021 as a hybrid meeting both onsite as well as online. The first day of this meeting was a thematic day dedicated to examining COVID-19’s impact on enforcement authorities’ work and priorities. This report summarises the presentations and discussions at the thematic day. The first section reports the presentations in the opening session setting the scene and addressing the changes in the labour market and the operations of enforcement authorities. The second section reports discussion of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic for the organisation of inspections, including a workshop on the use of alternative types of inspection to the physical inspection to detect and prevent undeclared work as well as a parallel workshop on changes in the planning and conduct of physical workplace inspections to detect and prevent undeclared work. The third section then reports discussion of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic for the organisation of inspectorates, covering both a workshop on changes in ways inspectorates operate when tackling undeclared work and the new skills and competencies required by inspectorates, as well as a parallel workshop on teleworking and other changes in the world of work and their implications for inspectorates. The fourth and final section summarises the key learning outcomes in terms of the practical recommendations on the way forward.
Keywords: informal economy, public economics, public policy, labour law, public sector management, labour inspection, tax evasion
JEL Classification: H26, J46, K42, O17, P37
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation