Bangladesh Social Protection and Labor Review : Towards Smart Social Protection and Jobs for the Poor

Over the past decade, Bangladesh has achieved strong economic growth and impressive poverty reduction. The country’s great strides in human development, reflected in the lowered fertility rate, improved health and epidemiological outcomes, and prog...

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Main Author: World Bank
Format: Report
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Dhaka, Bangladesh 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/09/26823954/bangladesh-social-protection-labor-review-towards-smart-social-protection-jobs-poor
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25265
id okr-10986-25265
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spelling okr-10986-252652021-05-25T08:52:39Z Bangladesh Social Protection and Labor Review : Towards Smart Social Protection and Jobs for the Poor World Bank labor standards labor market labor mobility social insurance safety nets microfinance poverty youth employment gender inequality Over the past decade, Bangladesh has achieved strong economic growth and impressive poverty reduction. The country’s great strides in human development, reflected in the lowered fertility rate, improved health and epidemiological outcomes, and progress in education, among others, are paving the way for its continued development and economic growth. Despite much progress, however, poverty and vulnerability remains a great challenge. In particular, persistent gaps across different populations exist often due to the labor market conditions experienced by marginalized workers (including unskilled laborers, females, youth, and migrants). In light of such dynamic changes in Bangladesh, the role of comprehensive Social Protection and Labor (SPL) policy to facilitate poor and vulnerable households to adequately respond to and manage various risks, is greater than ever. The recently endorsed National Social Security Strategy (NSSS) proceeds in this direction by adopting the lifecycle approach. This Social Protection and Labor Review report complements the NSSS with discussions on specific issues and policy recommendations. The report reviews the landscape of the sector, identifies key challenges to be overcome, and provides options for policy intervention. Overall, the review emphasizes the need for policy direction to shift from individual programs towards an overall strategy for households; from fragmented safety nets towards a comprehensive system; and from (ex-post) disaster reliefs towards (ex-ante) promotion of productive income generating activities. Therefore, the report greatly underscores the importance of strengthening labor market intervention and developing social insurance while addressing implementation challenges related to existing social assistance programs. In contrast to the multitude of various social assistance programs, Bangladesh currently lacks effective measures to promote labor market employment and productivity and adequate social insurance to hedge various risks. In the short term, the report suggests that policy efforts need to be made to introduce active labor market programs to provide greater employment opportunities, particularly for disadvantaged populations. Strategies to develop a pension system that can cover workers regardless of their type of employment are also needed. These measures will serve as building blocks for broader policies for more, better, and inclusive jobs, and a comprehensive social insurance system, which will contribute to the country’s goal of achieving middle income country status by 2021. 2016-10-25T20:59:16Z 2016-10-25T20:59:16Z 2016-03 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/09/26823954/bangladesh-social-protection-labor-review-towards-smart-social-protection-jobs-poor http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25265 English en_US Bangladesh Development Series,no. 33; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Dhaka, Bangladesh Economic & Sector Work :: Other Social Protection Study Economic & Sector Work South Asia Bangladesh
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic labor standards
labor market
labor mobility
social insurance
safety nets
microfinance
poverty
youth employment
gender inequality
spellingShingle labor standards
labor market
labor mobility
social insurance
safety nets
microfinance
poverty
youth employment
gender inequality
World Bank
Bangladesh Social Protection and Labor Review : Towards Smart Social Protection and Jobs for the Poor
geographic_facet South Asia
Bangladesh
relation Bangladesh Development Series,no. 33;
description Over the past decade, Bangladesh has achieved strong economic growth and impressive poverty reduction. The country’s great strides in human development, reflected in the lowered fertility rate, improved health and epidemiological outcomes, and progress in education, among others, are paving the way for its continued development and economic growth. Despite much progress, however, poverty and vulnerability remains a great challenge. In particular, persistent gaps across different populations exist often due to the labor market conditions experienced by marginalized workers (including unskilled laborers, females, youth, and migrants). In light of such dynamic changes in Bangladesh, the role of comprehensive Social Protection and Labor (SPL) policy to facilitate poor and vulnerable households to adequately respond to and manage various risks, is greater than ever. The recently endorsed National Social Security Strategy (NSSS) proceeds in this direction by adopting the lifecycle approach. This Social Protection and Labor Review report complements the NSSS with discussions on specific issues and policy recommendations. The report reviews the landscape of the sector, identifies key challenges to be overcome, and provides options for policy intervention. Overall, the review emphasizes the need for policy direction to shift from individual programs towards an overall strategy for households; from fragmented safety nets towards a comprehensive system; and from (ex-post) disaster reliefs towards (ex-ante) promotion of productive income generating activities. Therefore, the report greatly underscores the importance of strengthening labor market intervention and developing social insurance while addressing implementation challenges related to existing social assistance programs. In contrast to the multitude of various social assistance programs, Bangladesh currently lacks effective measures to promote labor market employment and productivity and adequate social insurance to hedge various risks. In the short term, the report suggests that policy efforts need to be made to introduce active labor market programs to provide greater employment opportunities, particularly for disadvantaged populations. Strategies to develop a pension system that can cover workers regardless of their type of employment are also needed. These measures will serve as building blocks for broader policies for more, better, and inclusive jobs, and a comprehensive social insurance system, which will contribute to the country’s goal of achieving middle income country status by 2021.
format Report
author World Bank
author_facet World Bank
author_sort World Bank
title Bangladesh Social Protection and Labor Review : Towards Smart Social Protection and Jobs for the Poor
title_short Bangladesh Social Protection and Labor Review : Towards Smart Social Protection and Jobs for the Poor
title_full Bangladesh Social Protection and Labor Review : Towards Smart Social Protection and Jobs for the Poor
title_fullStr Bangladesh Social Protection and Labor Review : Towards Smart Social Protection and Jobs for the Poor
title_full_unstemmed Bangladesh Social Protection and Labor Review : Towards Smart Social Protection and Jobs for the Poor
title_sort bangladesh social protection and labor review : towards smart social protection and jobs for the poor
publisher World Bank, Dhaka, Bangladesh
publishDate 2016
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/09/26823954/bangladesh-social-protection-labor-review-towards-smart-social-protection-jobs-poor
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25265
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