Among all social protection provisions, health care benefits are most essential for the workforce

Access to health care when needed is crucial - for human well-being but also for the entire economy including the labour market: Access to health care facilitates a growing labour force and decreases unemployment. Labour market participation is particularly increased by reductions in disability, mortality and increased life expectancy. As a result, poverty will decrease and economic growth, wealth and development increase significantly.

Further, investments in health protection impact on the labour market through employment of thr health sector's own health workforce. In many countries the health workforce constitutes a significant part of the total workforce. In addition to doctors, nurses and other medical workers, labour intensive development of infrastructure, pharmaceutical industries and others provide significant employment opportunities. Further, an investment in health protection also creates jobs beyond the health sector, e.g. through support services in the area of education, manufacturing, IT, research, trade, food preparation and transport.

Against this background, health protection schemes and systems that are well designed and implemented, are a major contributor to labour markets and have the potential to recover large parts of their costs at the national level. Thus, both the (working) population and the economy at large are beneficiaries of investments in health protection.