Training programs are the most common active labor market interventions around the world. Whether designed to develop skills of young job seekers or upgrading skills of adult workers, training programs are aimed at counteracting employability barriers that hinder the integration of people into...

Child labor is widespread, and bad for development, both that of the individual child, and of the society and economy in which she, or he lives. If allowed to persist to the current extent,child labor will prevent the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty, and...

The concept of the informal sector (IS) has recently received widespread and growing attention. Indeed, it may be fair to talk about a re-emergence of the concept in the debate related to social protection and poverty reduction. We argue that with this new found prominence, it is even more...

The report reviews the performance of various income support systems for the unemployed, and provides guidelines for developing and transition economies. It finds that: a) Unemployment insurance enables a high degree of consumption smoothing, performs well under various types of shocks, and acts...

One of the most conspicuous consequences of the transition of former socialist economies has been the emergence of large-scale, open unemployment - a phenomenon unheard of before the transition. These economies have thus been confronted with the difficult task of protecting the unemployed while...