Using case studies from Africa, the Americas, Europe, the Asia-Pacific and the Arab States this paper not only adds to the growing research on social protection and COVID-19 but advocates for the implementation of UBI grants as a first
response in addressing the vulnerability experienced by people in not only in emergency contexts but as a general
protective measure.

As a contribution to the national, regional and global understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on our already stressed society, SPII has produced a selection of the quarterly analysis of the critical unemployment figures, trends and trajectories from the last quarter of the Labour Force Survey to report before the impact of Covid- 19 would have had a significant impact. The broad definition of unemployment is 39.7%. It has risen by 1% from the last quarter and by 1.7% from the last year.