Globalization,
economic policy and employment: Poverty and gender implications
James Heintz
International Labour Office, 2006/
This study - Globalization, economic policy and employment: Poverty and gender
implications was initially commissioned in 2005 to take stock of recent literature and existing
empirical evidence regarding economic growth, economic policies, employment and poverty
through an engendered approach. Globalization is a process which affects all economies to
varying degrees and has had both negative and positive influences on economic growth and
employment, depending on the economic predisposition of a given economy, particularly in
international trade, the set of macroeconomic policies adopted and how they are laid out in
the overall development process and economic evolution. The study is, therefore, an attempt
to analyse the overall impact of globalization and macroeconomic policies on employment
and poverty trends with a specific gender perspective, or an attempt to engender employment
and poverty implications of macroeconomic policies. The study also forms a part of the
ILO’s efforts to address the social dimension of globalization, in order to promote a fair and
inclusive globalizatio n through productive and decent employment for all.
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Labour
market flexibility and employment and income security in Ethiopia:
Alternative considerations
Maria Sabrina de Gobbi
International Labour Office, 2006/
This study has been conducted within the framework of an ILO research project on labour market
flexibility and employment and income security (often called “flexicurity”) in developing countries. The
notion of “flexicurity” has been conceived and used to address labour market issues and policies in the
advanced and transition economies. Applying it to developing countries, in particular to very poor
countries like Ethiopia, requires some modifications to its original notion. This paper attempts to provide
considerations on some of these modifications and contends that labour markets in developing countries
need higher levels of security than of flexibility because of the predominant agrarian and informal nature
of poor economies. It is rather obvious that in surplus-labour countries, optimal security is clearly
associated with the attainment of full and productive employment of the work force. However, that goal
remains a far cry for a country like Ethiopia. It is necessary to explore alternative mechanisms to provide
security to the work force.
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Wage
inequality by gender and occupation: A cross-country analysis
Marva Corley, Yves Perardel and Kalina Popova
International Labour Office, 2005
This paper fills a void in the literature by providing an empirical analysis of intra- and
inter-country wage inequality. There are in fact very few empirical studies comparing
wages and earnings across countries in different regions, mainly because of the limited
amount of comparable information and methodological data. Wage and earning indicators
tend to be developed based on country- (or region-) specific criteria that are not always
comparable.
The few recent empirical studies available at the cross country level show the existence
of rising inequality in wages and earnings. In many high- and low/middle-income
countries, the wages of high-skilled workers have increased, while those of low-skilled
workers have grown relatively more slowly, fallen or remained stagnant.
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From the International Labour Organisation
World Employment report 2004-05
Employment, Productivity and Poverty
Reduction
Today there are 550 million
people who work, but still live on less than US$ 1 a day.
These "working poor" represent 20 per cent of total world
employment. In spite of the record levels of global
unemployment, the reality for most of the world’s poor is that
they must work – often for long hours, in poor working
conditions and without basic rights and representation – at
work that is not productive enough to enable them to lift
themselves and their families out of poverty. While it is
clearly the case that employment is central to poverty
reduction, it is "decent and productive" employment that
matters, not employment alone.
Given this backdrop, the World
Employment Report 2004-05 examines the interrelationship
between employment creation, productivity growth, and poverty
reduction, exploring key issues relevant to the debate. It
investigates whether gains in productivity lead to employment
losses and, if so, the conditions under which this might
occur. Given that productivity growth assumes a certain amount
of flexibility of the labour force, this Report also examines
how a particular degree of employment stability can be
maintained without sacrificing long-term growth. Here, social
dialogue plays a central role in maintaining the balance
between economic and social objectives.
The World Employment Report 2004-05 is the fifth
in a series of ILO reports that offer a global perspective on
current employment issues.
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M. Davey/D.
Leonhardt (2003): USA:
Jobless and hopeless. Many quit the labor force
|
European
Commission:
Employment in Europe 1998
Employment in Europe 2001. Recent trends and prospects
Employment in Europe 2002. Recent trends and prospects
Employment in Europe 2005.
Employment in Europe 2006.
|
Amartya Sen:
Inequality, unemployment and contemporary Europe, 1997
These neglects are among the factors responsible for high levels of mortality
among socially deprived groups in the United States. For example, African-
Americans – American blacks – have a lower chance of reaching a mature age than
the people of China, or Sri Lanka, or the Indian state of Kerala (see Sen, 1993). The
fact that these people from the Third World are so much poorer than the United
States population (and also poorer than the American black population, who are
more than 20 times richer in terms of per capita income than, say, Indians in Kerala),
makes the comparative disadvantage of African-Americans in survival particularly
disturbing.
Incidentally, the much higher death rates of American blacks compared with
American whites can be statistically established even after correcting for income
variations within the United States. The mortality differentials are not connected
only with death from violence, which is the stereotype that the media often portray
to explain the lower longevity of African-Americans. In fact, death from violence is
a big factor only for younger black men, and that, again, is only a partial explanation
of the higher mortality of that group. In fact, the severe mortality disadvantages of
American blacks apply sharply also to women and to older men (35 and older).
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Róbinson
Rojas - 1997:
The other side of China's miracle:
unemployment/inequality
Since the counter-revolution took over in China in 1977, two main
problems have been mounting: increasing unemployment and
income differentiation. In September 1995, Far Eastern
Economic Review published the following:
"RURAL JOBLESS THREAT.
Rural unemployment poses the "biggest threat" to China, which must
expand labour-intensive industries, according to a State Statistics
Bureau Report. "Labour supply will continue to outweigh demand for
a long time", the report said. It called China's official estimates
of 100 million rural jobless inaccurate. Unofficial tallies put the
number at 200 million -nearly 17% of the population".
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Róbinson
Rojas - 1997:
Unemployment -
definitions and measurement. Trends
Since the 1970s unemployment has become the most dramatic problem
for industrialized societies. Reflecting on that, the OECD's meeting
at ministerial level on May 1997, worded its central theme as
"promoting sustainable growth and social cohesion"
social cohesion meant "reducing levels of unemployment".
The meeting stated that "eliminating high and persistent unemployment
is the major economic policy challenge for most OECD countries. The
Jobs Strategy review concluded that for the OECD area as a whole,
unemployment has fallen only slightly from its peak in 1994 and that
structural unemployment has risen. In a number of countries it is at
unacceptably high levels. Ministers agreed that the bulk of this
unemployment remains structural in nature, although there is also
cyclical unemployment in some countries".
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| Labournet |
| Staying Alive (CorpWatch) |
U.S.A,Canada,Japan,France,
Germany,Italy,U.K,China,Russia,Ukraine:
Labour force 1970-1995
Agricultural labour force
Non-agricultural labour force
Industrial employment
Comparative statistics
(Foreign Labor Statistics)
Comparative civilian labour force statistics.
Ten countries.1959-1997
|
| OECD.- Standardised unemployment rates. 1976-1995 |
| Developed economies: rate of unemployment
1988-1998 |
| R. Rojas: GDP, labour force, employment, unemployment.1870-1989.
1960-89. |
| Rates of inflation, unemployment and growth/1950-1996
(U.S.A.) |
| Rates of inflation, unemployment and growth -1960-1997
(U.K.) |
| UN/Social indicators: unemployment |
UNRISD: Trade-related employment for women in industry and
services in developing countries
|
U.S.
Bureau of the Census:
International Comparisons of Labor Force, Employment, and Unemployment
Comparative Labor Force Statistics, Ten Countries,
1959-97
Comparative
Unemployment Rates, Nine Countries, 1975-98
International Comparisons of Hourly Compensation
Costs for Production Workers in Manufacturing
International
Comparisons of Hourly Compensation Costs for Production Workers in Manufacturing, 1997
International
Comparisons of Hourly Compensation Costs, Supplementary Tables, 1975-97
Unpublished
Hourly Compensation Costs for Production Workers in Manufacturing, 31 Countries or Areas,
40 Manufacturing Industries, 1975 and 1984-95:
International Comparisons of Manufacturing
Productivity and Unit Labor Costs
International Comparisons of Manufacturing
Productivity and Unit Labor Cost Trends, 1997
International Comparisons of Other Labor Statistics
Consumer Price Indexes, Sixteen Countries, 1950-97
Percent Change
in Consumer Price Indexes, Nine Countries, 1975-98
Unpublished
Comparative Real Gross Domestic Product per capita and per Employed Person, Fourteen
Countries, 1960-1996:
T1. Real GDP Per Capita (1996 U.S. Dollars)
T2. Real GDP Per Capita (United States = 100)
T3. Real GDP Per Employed Person (1996 U.S. Dollars)
T4. Real GDP Per Employed Person (United States = 100)
T5. Real GDP per Capita and per Employed Person, Average Annual Percent Changes
T6. Purchasing Power Parities and Relative Prices
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The White House
Economic Statistics Briefing Room:
Employment
Income
International
Trade
Money
Output
Prices
Production
|
|
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From ILO:
Global Employment Trends 2008
Foreword - Acknowledgements
1. Global employment situation
2. Sub-Saharan Africa
3. North Africa
4. Middle East
5. Latin America and the Caribbean
6. East Asia
7. South-East Asia and the Pacific
8. South Asia
9. Central and South-Eastern Europe (non-EU) & CIS
10. Developed Economies and European Union
11. Summary
Appendix 1. Tables
Appendix 2. Key regional labour market indicators and policy issues
Appendix 3. Regional groupings
Figures
Figure 1. Global employment and unemployment trends, 1997-2007
Figure 2. Regional shares in worldwide net job creation in 2007
Figure 3. Sectoral employment shares (%) in the world, 1997 to 2007
Figure 4a. Labour Productivity measured as output per person employed
in world regions, levels 1997 to 2007
Figure 4b. Labour Productivity measured as output per person employed
in world regions, percentage change in comparison to 1997
Figure 5. Employment-to-population ratios, female and male,
world and regions, 1997 and 2007
Figure 6. Unemployment rates total and youth, world and regions, 2007
Figure 7. Shares of youth population (15-24) in the working age population,
world and region, 1991 and 2015
Figure 8. Status of employment shares in total employment, 2007 all regions
Boxes
Box 1. The importance of agriculture for the development process
in sub-Saharan Africa
Box 2. Female Entrepreneurship: A shared challenge and chance
for North Africa and the Middle East
Box 3. Social exclusion and discrimination in Latin America
and the Caribbean
Box 4. Micro-level analysis of working poverty in the Philippines
Box 5. Analysing labour market vulnerability: Th e example of Pakistan
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ILO: Economic and
labour market analysis:
Overview
Key
Indicators of the Labour Market
World Employment Report
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Technical assistance
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LMIL Database system
UN
Millennium Development Goals
World
and Regional Estimates
|
| ILO: Global
employment trends. 2004 |
| International Labour Organisation |
| ILO: LABORSTA Internet |
ILO:
Compendium of official statistics on
employment in the informal sector
|
| OIT: Tendencias
mundiales del empleo. 2004 |
| Organización Internacional del Trabajo |
| OIT: Tendences
mondiales de l'emploi. 2004 |
| Organisation Internationale du Travail |
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