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...

While the Brazilian social protection system provides instruments to reduce the risk of destitution from old age and disability with broad coverage, protection against labor income shocks in Brazil remains segmented and largely depends on labor status and household composition. In 2019, nearly...

Disability-inclusive development directly responds to the World Bank's twin goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. Disability and poverty are inherently linked, with persons with disabilities having poorer health outcomes; lower education achievements; less economic...

The Philippines increasingly emphasizes lifelong learning and skills mobility for labor productivity as an integral part of the country's growth strategy. The Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 presents a series of activities to improve labor productivity through human capital investment....

Despite being an upper middle income country, South Africa's high inequality and the long-lasting legacies of apartheid mean that the country is faced with numerous development challenges, many of which are characteristic of countries with much lower incomes. This paper focuses on social...

Vietnam is a young country on the cusp of a dramatic aging of the population that is taking place at a faster pace and at an earlier level of development than most other countries in the world. Though Vietnam's favorable demographic window of opportunity is still open, this report argues it...

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...

Lesotho, a high-altitude, landlocked country of 2.1 million people encircled by South Africa, has made gains in poverty reduction over the last decade but challenges of shared prosperity remain. The country has made significant investments in developing social protection programs as part of the...

Indonesia needs more jobs. While 2.1 million jobs have been created on average over the past three years, the 20 percent youth unemployment rate, four times higher than the adult unemployment rate, combined with the growth of the country's labor force, emphasizes the importance of greater job...