This paper reviews labor market trends throughout the developing world, identifies issues and policy priorities across groups of countries, and derives implications for the World Bank's new social protection and labor strategy. Five key issues are identified: a high and growingshare of the labor...

This paper presents empirical evidence on the determinants of industry-level multifactor productivity growth. It focus on traditional factors, including the process of technological catch up, human capital and R&D as well as institutional factors affecting labor adjustment costs. The link...

Institutions matter in the design, and implementation of social programs in general, and for social safety net programs in particular. This paper argues that what matters most for the success of programs, are the incentives that are provided to stakeholders, and actors through institutions., The...

This paper examines one type of program that is used by many OECD and CEEC countries (Central and Eastern European countries) to ease the pain of structural adjustment and create jobs, namely Public Service Employment (PSE). Such programs are characterized by the employment of unemployed...

This paper argues that it is important to take into account unfunded public pension liabilities as part of an assessment of the overall fiscal situation, including the fiscal positions of pension schemes pre and post reforms. It examines the concept of the implicit pension debt (IPD) and...

This paper is aimed at identifying the sources of income insecurity and vulnerability among workers in the informal sector in developing countries and examines alternative approaches to social protection for the informal sector. This is followed by a discussion on the challenges of developing a...

Unemployment insurance has been the subject of numerous theoretical and empirical studies. These studies elucidate the benefits and the cost of unemployment insurance, namely, the improved allocation of risk bearing and the reduced incentives for work. In the past two decades a branch of the...

Social protection can be defined as interventions intended to assist individuals, households, and communities in managing risk in order to reduce vulnerability, smooth consumption, and improve equity. Social protection in Togo has been put to test by the political and economic developments of...

This paper considers alternatives to disperse the accumulated pension rights during the liquidation phase or retirement. First, the paper classifies the risks that affect pensioners, discusses the defined benefit and defined contribution options, and classifies pension contracts according to...

In 1995, Latvia became the first country in Central and Eastern Europe to implement parametric reform of the Soviet-style PAYGO pension system, and the first in the world to implement the"notional defined contribution (NDC) system"originally designed for Sweden. The Government's intention was to...