Republic of Lebanon : Economic and Labor Force Impact of the Change in the Wage Structure of the Public Sector
Amid uncertain growth prospects and shrinking fiscal space, the government's initial decision to significantly increase public sector employees' salaries is raising significant challenges. While the cost of living increase aims to offset...
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Format: | Policy Note |
Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
Washington, DC
2013
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Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/06/18042908/lebanon-economic-labor-force-impact-change-wage-structure-public-sector http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16030 |
Summary: | Amid uncertain growth prospects and
shrinking fiscal space, the government's initial
decision to significantly increase public sector
employees' salaries is raising significant challenges.
While the cost of living increase aims to offset the erosion
of real wages over time, the change in the structure of
salary scales is not accompanied by a similar structural
revision of tasks and efficiency of public sector employees.
At the macro-economic level, the overall increase in wages
would weaken the Lebanese economy through the return of
unsustainable debt dynamics, pressures on the peg, lower
economic growth, and increased unemployment. Introducing
revenue measures will reduce these negative impacts but
would lower resilience to shocks and impede the use of
counter-cyclical fiscal policies. Reforming the pension
system will further reduce the negative impact, but such
reform cannot be separated from the need for strengthening
social safety nets. |
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