This is a semi-annual report series on recent economic developments and economic policies in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia). The report looks at the economic performance and outlook for the Western Balkans region and specific...

This report stems from the work initiated in the Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) forUzbekistan in May 2016, which identified the quality of job creation as a central, cross-cuttingtheme. The SCD emphasized that "over the medium term, creating high-productivity, high-paying jobs for...

The Country Opinion Survey in Haiti assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in gaining a better understanding of how stakeholders in Haiti perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral/bilateral agencies, media, academia, the private...

Across the world, governments use minimum wages, employment protection legislation, and other labor regulations that define the legal boundaries of employment to manage potential labor market imperfections. These imperfections include information asymmetry, uneven market power between employers...

Due to frequent domestic and external shocks, Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world. Located in a sub-region repeatedly challenged by security threats such as the Libyan conflict, the Mali crisis and the Boko Haram armed attacks, the Nigerien economy is exposed to severe climate...

This note summarizes the impacts of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak on Vietnam's labor market in 2020 and evaluates the social protection response to identify lessons learned for future crises. Vietnam's labor market was shaken by the outbreak in 2020. But an effective...

The objective of this technical report and the accompanying skills profiles report is twofold. First, the technical report explains the methodology used to transform job postings text into OV data and in turn, illustrates how to use those data to produce labor market intelligence valuable to...

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...

This brief is based on analysis of the 2011-12 household budget survey (HBS) implemented by Central Administration for Statistics (CAS) with technical assistance from the World Bank. The survey was conducted during the period of September 2011 to November 2012, and was stratified across nine...