Back to Work : Growing with Jobs in Europe and Central Asia

Creating more and better jobs is arguably the most critical challenge to boosting shared prosperity in ECA. This report answers two questions: How can the countries create more jobs? Should there be specific policies to help workers access those jobs?. In answering them, the report examines the role...

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Main Authors: Arias, Omar S., Sánchez-Páramo, Carolina, Dávalos, María E., Santos, Indhira, Tiongson, Erwin R., Gruen, Carola, de Andrade Falcão, Natasha, Saiovici, Gady, Cancho, Cesar A.
Format: Publication
Language:en_US
Published: Washington, DC: World Bank 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16570
id okr-10986-16570
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-165702021-04-23T14:03:31Z Back to Work : Growing with Jobs in Europe and Central Asia Arias, Omar S. Sánchez-Páramo, Carolina Dávalos, María E. Santos, Indhira Tiongson, Erwin R. Gruen, Carola de Andrade Falcão, Natasha Saiovici, Gady Cancho, Cesar A. active labor market policy agglomeration economies aging business environment demographics education employment entrepreneurs entrepreneurship firms gazelles inclusion job creation jobs labor matching labor mobility migration older workers productivity reforms skills social protection socialist legacy tax wedges training women work incentives youth Transition economies Creating more and better jobs is arguably the most critical challenge to boosting shared prosperity in ECA. This report answers two questions: How can the countries create more jobs? Should there be specific policies to help workers access those jobs?. In answering them, the report examines the role of reforms, firms, skills, incentives and barriers to work, and labor mobility through the lens of two contextual factors: the legacy of centralized planned economies and the mounting demographic pressures associated with rapid aging in some countries and soaring numbers of youth entering the workforce in others. The main findings of the report are: i) market reforms pay off in terms of jobs and productivity, although with a lag; ii) a small fraction of superstar high-growth firms, largely young, account for most of new jobs created in the region- thus, countries, especially late reformers, need to unleash the potential of high levels of latent entrepreneurship to start-up new firms; iii) skills gaps hinder employment prospects, especially of youth and older workers, due to the inadequate response of the education and training system to changes in the demand for skills; iv) employment is hindered by high implicit taxes on work for those transitioning to work from inactivity or unemployment and barriers that affect especially women, minorities, youth and older workers; and, v) low internal labor mobility prevents labor relocation to places with greater job creation potential. The report argues that to get more people back to work by growing with jobs, countries need to regain the momentum for economic and institutional reforms that existed before the crisis in order to: (i) lay the fundamentals to create jobs for all workers, by pushing reforms to create the enabling environment for existing firms to grow, become more productive, or exit the market and tap on entrepreneurship potential for new firms to emerge and succeed or fail fast and cheap; and (ii) implement policies to support workers so they are prepared to take on the new jobs being created, by having the right skills, incentives and access to work, and being ready to move to places with the highest job creation potential. 2014-01-15T18:57:10Z 2014-01-15T18:57:10Z 2014-01-15 978-0-8213-9910-1 10.1596/978-0-8213-9910-1 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16570 en_US Europe and Central Asia Reports; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Publications & Research :: Publication Publications & Research Europe and Central Asia Europe Central Asia Europe and Central Asia Eastern Europe Turkey
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language en_US
topic active labor market policy
agglomeration economies
aging
business environment
demographics
education
employment
entrepreneurs
entrepreneurship
firms
gazelles
inclusion
job creation
jobs
labor matching
labor mobility
migration
older workers
productivity
reforms
skills
social protection
socialist legacy
tax wedges
training
women
work incentives
youth
Transition economies
spellingShingle active labor market policy
agglomeration economies
aging
business environment
demographics
education
employment
entrepreneurs
entrepreneurship
firms
gazelles
inclusion
job creation
jobs
labor matching
labor mobility
migration
older workers
productivity
reforms
skills
social protection
socialist legacy
tax wedges
training
women
work incentives
youth
Transition economies
Arias, Omar S.
Sánchez-Páramo, Carolina
Dávalos, María E.
Santos, Indhira
Tiongson, Erwin R.
Gruen, Carola
de Andrade Falcão, Natasha
Saiovici, Gady
Cancho, Cesar A.
Back to Work : Growing with Jobs in Europe and Central Asia
geographic_facet Europe and Central Asia
Europe
Central Asia
Europe and Central Asia
Eastern Europe
Turkey
relation Europe and Central Asia Reports;
description Creating more and better jobs is arguably the most critical challenge to boosting shared prosperity in ECA. This report answers two questions: How can the countries create more jobs? Should there be specific policies to help workers access those jobs?. In answering them, the report examines the role of reforms, firms, skills, incentives and barriers to work, and labor mobility through the lens of two contextual factors: the legacy of centralized planned economies and the mounting demographic pressures associated with rapid aging in some countries and soaring numbers of youth entering the workforce in others. The main findings of the report are: i) market reforms pay off in terms of jobs and productivity, although with a lag; ii) a small fraction of superstar high-growth firms, largely young, account for most of new jobs created in the region- thus, countries, especially late reformers, need to unleash the potential of high levels of latent entrepreneurship to start-up new firms; iii) skills gaps hinder employment prospects, especially of youth and older workers, due to the inadequate response of the education and training system to changes in the demand for skills; iv) employment is hindered by high implicit taxes on work for those transitioning to work from inactivity or unemployment and barriers that affect especially women, minorities, youth and older workers; and, v) low internal labor mobility prevents labor relocation to places with greater job creation potential. The report argues that to get more people back to work by growing with jobs, countries need to regain the momentum for economic and institutional reforms that existed before the crisis in order to: (i) lay the fundamentals to create jobs for all workers, by pushing reforms to create the enabling environment for existing firms to grow, become more productive, or exit the market and tap on entrepreneurship potential for new firms to emerge and succeed or fail fast and cheap; and (ii) implement policies to support workers so they are prepared to take on the new jobs being created, by having the right skills, incentives and access to work, and being ready to move to places with the highest job creation potential.
format Publications & Research :: Publication
author Arias, Omar S.
Sánchez-Páramo, Carolina
Dávalos, María E.
Santos, Indhira
Tiongson, Erwin R.
Gruen, Carola
de Andrade Falcão, Natasha
Saiovici, Gady
Cancho, Cesar A.
author_facet Arias, Omar S.
Sánchez-Páramo, Carolina
Dávalos, María E.
Santos, Indhira
Tiongson, Erwin R.
Gruen, Carola
de Andrade Falcão, Natasha
Saiovici, Gady
Cancho, Cesar A.
author_sort Arias, Omar S.
title Back to Work : Growing with Jobs in Europe and Central Asia
title_short Back to Work : Growing with Jobs in Europe and Central Asia
title_full Back to Work : Growing with Jobs in Europe and Central Asia
title_fullStr Back to Work : Growing with Jobs in Europe and Central Asia
title_full_unstemmed Back to Work : Growing with Jobs in Europe and Central Asia
title_sort back to work : growing with jobs in europe and central asia
publisher Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate 2014
url http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16570
_version_ 1764434228862255104