This paper examines how different types of workers in middle-income countries fared during the immediate aftermath of the great recession. Youth suffered extraordinary increases in unemployment and declines in wage employment. Employment to population ratios also plummeted for men, primarily due...

This paper examines how different types of workers in 17 middle-income countries were affected by labor market retrenchment during the great recession. Impacts on different types of workers varied by country and were only weakly related to the severity of the shock. Among active workers, youth...

This paper examines how different types of workers in 17 middle-income countries were affected by labor market retrenchment during the great recession. Impacts on different types of workers varied by country and were only weakly related to the severity of the shock. Among active workers, youth...

A drastic decline in fertility rates in Korea is accelerating the unprecedentedly rapid population ageing. This phenomenon calls into question what role the economic forces play in the decisions and which public policies can be effective. As population ageing induces a shortage of labor force...

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...

Fostering entrepreneurship is widely perceived to be a critical policy agenda to expand employment and earning opportunities and to reduce poverty. Sound macroeconomic conditions and business environment including infrastructure, regulation, and legal environment have typically been emphasized...

Since the mid-1990s, Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced unprecedented levels of high economic growth. A key question follows: What accounts for the turnaround of the growth performance in the mid-1990s? The answer can provide insight into whether the recent growth spurt in Sub-Saharan Africa is...

The informal sector is generally believed to be more vulnerable to various risks due to limited access to social insurance, but little empirical evidence exists to support this statement. This paper examines the relationship between informality and protection from health risks in Yemen. The...

This paper evaluates the overall effects of a pronatal subsidy program, the Basic Subsidy Program (BSP), in Korea. As the Total Fertility Rate(TFR) declines as low as 1.08 in 2005, several pronatal programs are urgently enlarged and newly introduced. One such program is the BSP for families with...