Job Creation in Latin America and the Caribbean : Recent Trends and Policy Challenges.
Material type: TextSeries: Latin American Development ForumPublisher: Herndon : World Bank Publications, 2009Copyright date: ©2009Description: 1 online resource (537 pages)Content type: text Media type: computer Carrier type: online resourceISBN: 9780821380253Subject(s): Caribbean Area -- Economic policy | Latin America -- Economic policy | Manpower policy -- Caribbean Area | Manpower policy -- Latin America | Unemployment -- Caribbean Area | Unemployment -- Latin AmericaGenre/Form: Electronic books.Additional physical formats: Print version:: Job Creation in Latin America and the Caribbean : Recent Trends and Policy ChallengesDDC classification: 331.12/0424098 LOC classification: HD5730.5.A6 -- P34 2009ebOnline resources: Click to ViewCover -- Title Page -- Contents -- Latin American Development Forum Series -- Other Titles in the Latin American Development Forum Series -- About the Authors -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Overview -- Introduction -- "Jobless Growth" or "Growthless Jobs"? Long-Term Growth and Employment Performance in the Region -- Supply-Side Effects -- Increasing Female Participation -- A Decline in Participation by Youths -- A Shortage of Skilled Workers -- Structural Changes Across and Within Sectors: Shedding Light on the Sources of Low Productivity Growth -- Low Reallocation of Employment, Which Did Not Always Improve Resource Allocation -- The Entry of Productive Firms and the Exit of Obsolete Ones -- A Difficult Business Environment for New Firms, Especially Small, Low-Technology Ones -- Addressing the Constraints to Productive Job Creation: Improving the Investment Climate -- Improving Regulation: Shifting to Protecting Workers Rather Than Jobs -- Impairment of Employment and Productivity Performance by Job Protection -- Improvement of Income Protection Mechanisms -- Rethinking Social Security -- Addressing the Needs of Vulnerable Workers by Increasing the Effectiveness of Active Labor Market Policies -- Improving the Administrative and Enforcement Capacity of Labor Authorities -- Summary and Directions for Further Analysis -- Notes -- References -- PART 1 Employment Dynamics in Latin America and the Caribbean -- Introduction -- 1 Jobless Growth or Growthless Jobs?: Job Creation Challenges from a Macroperspective -- Introduction -- Growth Performance in Latin America and the Caribbean since the 1970s -- Sluggish Growth and Lack of Convergence with Developing Countries -- Intraregional Income Inequality -- Lackluster Growth Performance -- Drivers of Growth -- Labor Productivity -- Employment Rates and Working-Age Population -- Jobless Growth.
Drivers of Productivity -- Effect of Human Capital -- Effect of Low Educational Attainment -- Dynamics of Employment -- Low Elasticity of Employment to Output and High Elasticity of Real Wages -- Relationship between Wage Growth and Productivity Growth -- Falling Quality of Employment -- Dynamics of Labor Supply -- Increased Female Labor Force Participation -- High Rates of Labor Supply Growth but Poor Labor Productivity Outcome -- Higher Proportion of Unemployed Workers -- Increasing Unemployment in Countries with Low or Negative Employment Growth -- Conclusions -- Annex 1.A: Selection of Comparator Countries -- Annex 1.B: Selection of Analysis Time Frame -- Annex 1.C: Labor Input Growth Adjusted for Different Levels of Education -- Annex 1.D: Estimation of Employment and Real Wage Elasticities -- Notes -- References -- 2 Skills, Gender, and Age Dimensions of Job Creation -- Introduction -- Declining Demand for Unskilled Labor -- Adaptation to the Need for Skilled Labor -- Deterioration of Working Conditions-Especially for Medium-Skill Workers -- Many Workers with Tertiary Education Lack the Appropriate Skills -- Insufficient Supply of Skilled Workers -- Skill Constraints in Growing Firms and Growing Countries -- Importance of Enhancing Human Capital While Adopting Measures to Boost Productivity Growth -- Large Increase in Female Participation -- Trends in Female Participation and Employment -- Factors That Explain the Increase in Female Participation and Employment -- Supply factors -- Demand factors -- Youths and the Labor Market -- Declining Child and Youth Employment Rates and Increasing Employment Rates for Adults -- Increasing Rates of Schooling -- Small but Negative Effect of Sector Reallocation on the Demand for Young Workers -- Conclusions -- Annex 2.A: Selection of Analysis Time Frame -- Notes -- References.
PART 2 Structural Changes, Employment, and Productivity Growth: Main Patterns -- Introduction -- Notes -- References -- 3 Role of Structural Changes for Employment and Productivity Growth -- Introduction -- Structural Changes in the Region -- A Shift in Output and Employment from Agriculture Activities-and Often from Manufacturing to Services -- Concentration of Job Creation in Low-Productivity Service Sectors -- Sectoral Composition of the Region's Economies -- Sectoral Reallocation and Productivity -- Effect of Shifts toward Low-Productivity Services on Productivity Growth -- Scraping the Surface: What Drove the Deindustrialization Process? -- Associated Losses in Comparative Advantages in Rapidly Growing Sectors -- Shifts away from Capital-Intensive Industries -- Role of Policy in the Process of Reallocation -- Effect of Trade Reforms: Greater Churning and Selection within Sectors but Little Reallocation across Sectors -- Effect of Exchange Rates on Employment and Job Flows -- Significant Effect of Privatization on Employment and Sectoral Allocation of Resources -- Conclusions -- Annex 3.A: Employment and GDP by Sector Data Sources -- Employment Data -- GDP Data -- Annex 3.B: Differences among Labor Productivity Computations -- Annex 3.C: Sensitivity Analysis of Labor Productivity Growth -- Annex 3.D: Data on GDP and Employment Shares, by Sector -- Annex 3.E: Lilien Index -- Annex 3.F: Balassa Index -- Annex 3.G: Classification of Sectors by Input Intensity -- Annex 3.H: Classification of Sectors by Productivity -- Notes -- References -- 4 Creative Destruction, Productivity, and Job Creation -- Introduction -- What Is the Role of Firm Restructuring and the Entry and Exit of Firms in Job Creation? -- High Rates of Job Creation and Destruction in Latin American Countries -- The Strong Role Played by the Entry and Exit of Firms.
Increase in Firm Dynamics and the Associated Job Creation and Destruction -- The Key Role of Firm Creation and Destruction in Productivity Growth -- Effect of New Technologies -- Ability to Allocate Resources to the Most Productive Uses -- Effect of Firm Dynamics on Market Contestability and Productivity of Incumbents -- Firms' Characteristics and the Process of Firm Entry, Postentry Growth, and Exit -- Size Distribution of Formal Firms -- Gross and Net Firm Flows -- What explains the firm churning in the region? -- Concentration of dynamism in low-tech activities -- Small size of entering firms -- Entries and exits as part of the same creative destruction process -- Postentry Performance of Firms -- Harsh market selection for new businesses in the region -- High expansion rates in Mexico but very low expansion rates in Argentina -- Summing Up: The Need for Entry Conditions and Incentives to Create Jobs -- Notes -- References -- PART 3 Policies to Foster the Creation of Good Jobs and Help Workers through Labor Market Transitions -- Introduction -- 5 The Business Environment: Policy Challenges for Promoting Investment and Job Creation -- Introduction -- Role of the Investment Climate in Explaining Labor Market Performance in the Region -- Main Obstacles Faced by Firms in the Region -- Risk: The Main Constraint in Most Countries -- Costs: Concerns about Lack of Rule of Law, Financing, and Taxes -- Corruption and Inconsistent Business Regulations as an Impediment on Job Growth -- Barriers to Competition -- What Investment Climate Constraints Characterize "Jobless Growth" Countries? -- Strong Constraints to Firm Expansion Curbing the Potential for Job Creation -- Business Regulations -- Corruption -- High Cost and Restricted Access to Financing -- Effect of Business Climate Constraints on Employment Growth of Foreign-Owned and Exporting Firms.
Constraints on Informal Firms Compared with Constraints on Formal Ones -- Costs as the Main Obstacles for Firms in Productive Sectors -- The Relative Role of Labor Regulations -- Summing Up: Further Improvements to the Investment Climate -- Annex 5.A: Results from Estimations of Base Model -- Annex 5.B: Investment Climate Constraints and Employment Growth -- Annex 5.C: Hiring and Firing Regulations and Labor Market Outcomes -- Annex 5.D: Explanatory Notes and Data Sources for Investment Climate Indexes -- Legal Structure and Security of Property Rights -- Freedom to Trade Internationally -- Credit Market Regulations -- Business Regulations -- Hiring and Firing Practices -- Cost of Finance -- Notes -- References -- 6 Improving Protection against the Risk of Unemployment: From Job Protection to Income Support -- Introduction -- The Risk of Unemployment -- Role of Publicly Provided Income-Support Mechanisms -- Regulating Hiring and Firing to Lower the Risk of Unemployment -- Constraints of Hiring and Firing Regulations -- Low Administrative Constraints but High Monetary Costs of Firing -- Importance of Labor Regulations for Labor Market Performance -- Recent Reforms on Fixed-Term Contracts -- Toward Better Ways of Protecting Workers against Unemployment Risk -- Severance Payments -- Individual Unemployment Savings Accounts -- Unemployment Insurance -- Active Labor Market Programs -- Unemployment Insurance and Labor Market Performance -- Restrictions on Eligibility -- Dual Systems -- Extending Income Support to All Workers -- Summing Up: A Set of Proposals for the Countries of the Region -- Notes -- References -- 7 Active Labor Market Programs Helping the Poor Find Better Jobs -- Introduction -- Job Intermediation -- The Region's Underdeveloped JI Systems -- Poor but Promising Performance of JIs -- The Need to Do More Than Provide Information.
Recent Reforms of Public Employment Services.
This book analyzes recent labor market trends in Latin American countries and the factors that underlie the failure to create more-and more productive and rewarding-jobs, a failure with substantial political and social costs. The authors analyze how growth and job creation in the region's economies compare with other emerging countries, the impact of job creation and destruction on productivity growth and the creation of "good" jobs, and the relative importance and role of labor market policies in improving labor market outcomes in the region.
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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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