By some measures, the Indonesian labor market has never looked better. Underpinned by sound macroeconomic policies, steady economic growth of about 5 percent per annum over the past decade was associated with strong job creation. This article focuses on one driver of the quality of jobs in...

Labor regulations are important determinants of resource allocation, productivity, and labor market outcomes. They can protect workers' rights, enhance job security, and improve working conditions. However, overly restrictive regulations can also increase business costs, becoming barriers to...

Foreign direct investment (FDI) can provide important opportunities for middle-class jobs by stimulating employment growth, paying wage premiums, and helping to shift workers out of less productive sectors. This analysis exploits regional variations in sales to examine the effect that...

The current downturn in commodity prices provides an opportunity for Indonesia to shift away from its dependence on commodity-driven growth towards higher value-added activities in manufacturing and services. However, Indonesia faces both global and structural challenges in making this...

The aim of this technical note is to shed some light on relationship between labor market institutions and labor market outcomes in the member states of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in North America and East Asia; the New Member States of the European Union who...

This report complements the recent World Bank publication, Growing United: Upgrading Europe's Convergence Machine (Bodewig, C., Ridao-Cano, C., 2018). The Growing United report highlights that, while the European Union is still the "convergence machine" that fosters an unparalleled depth and...

This study investigates empirically the determinants of labor shares focusing on the role of investment and exchange rate volatility. The authors use a system GMM panel approach and consider 34 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries along with South Africa for...

For more than a decade, South Africa has experienced falling labor force participation rates while maintaining relatively high unemployment rates, particularly among its youth. This paper examines the role of labor costs from the perspectives of employers and workers by combining information...

The paper is structured in six further sections following this introduction. Section two develops a conceptual framework, and reviews the literature on the relationship between trade integration and labor market outcomes. Section three outlines the empirical framework and data used in the...

Iraq needs a strategy to make rapid progress in tackling its profound jobs challenges. Iraq is facing a jobs crisis of unprecedented proportions. It could foment a resurgence in violence unless the Government of Iraq makes credible and swift progress in job creation and reconstruction. To shape...