Economics of Tobacco Toolkit, Tool 5 : Understand and Evaluate the Impact of Tobacco Control Policies on Employment
A reduction in tobacco use can lead to a smaller tobacco industry, which in turn can affect, in both desirable and undesirable ways, the total number and distribution of employment in a nation or a region. For this reason, the public health communi...
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| Format: | Publications & Research |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/18136344/understand-evaluate-impact-tobacco-control-policies-employment http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16266 |
| Summary: | A reduction in tobacco use can lead to a
smaller tobacco industry, which in turn can affect, in both
desirable and undesirable ways, the total number and
distribution of employment in a nation or a region. For this
reason, the public health community should examine the
employment aspect of tobacco control measures when
considering an effort to reduce tobacco use. The purpose of
this examination is three-fold: provide the information
needed by policy makers who are hesitant to make tobacco
control efforts, provide a counterpoint to that of the
tobacco industry, and formulate a more effective policy that
takes into account those who are negatively affected by
tobacco control. Despite the obvious threat of tobacco to
human health, many governments, particularly in low-and
middle-income countries, have not taken significant action
to reduce tobacco's toll, partly due to concerns about
the undesirable consequences on employment (World Bank,
1999). Governments in those countries fear that tobacco
control measures create unemployment, an undesirable factor
since job creation is an important element of any
country's development and poverty alleviation
strategies. The fear of the possibly negative impact on
employment by a tobacco control policy is due to a lack of
information. The employment impact of such a policy has only
been studied in a few countries, mostly in developed
countries. In theory, reduced tobacco use does not lead to a
loss in the total number of jobs since money not spent on
tobacco is used on other goods and services, thus creating
additional jobs to offset the job loss in tobacco-related
sectors. Examining the employment impact of reducing tobacco
use provides the information needed for those policy makers
concerned about imposing a negative employment impact due to
a tobacco control policy. |
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