Job Creation in Latin America : Recent Trends and Policy Challenges

This book strives to better understand the recent labor market trends in the countries of the region and the factors that underlie the failure of many of those countries to create more, but especially more productive and rewarding jobs. In particular, the book addresses four main questions: how well...

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Main Authors:	Pagés, Carmen, Pierre, Gaëlle, Scarpetta, Stefano
Format:	Publication
Language:	en_US
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank and New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2012
Subjects:	Creative destruction Firm dynamics Growth decomposition Investment climate Job creation Labor demand Labor allocation Structural change
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9386

id	okr-10986-9386
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-93862021-04-23T14:02:45Z Job Creation in Latin America : Recent Trends and Policy Challenges Pagés, Carmen Pierre, Gaëlle Scarpetta, Stefano Creative destruction Firm dynamics Growth decomposition Investment climate Job creation Labor demand Labor demand Labor allocation Structural change This book strives to better understand the recent labor market trends in the countries of the region and the factors that underlie the failure of many of those countries to create more, but especially more productive and rewarding jobs. In particular, the book addresses four main questions: how well are the Latin American and Caribbean economies doing in terms of growth and job creation compared with other emerging economies? The book shows that jobless growth concerns only a few Latin American and Caribbean countries. In most of the rest, many jobs have been created over the past decade, but their productivity and pay were low. Is the weak creation of productive jobs the result of lack of dynamism in the economy? To address this question, the book dives into the behavior of firms. In particular, it looks at how resources are reallocated across firms and sectors. This analysis uncovers that, in most countries of the region, many jobs are created and destroyed, but this activity does not necessarily lead to better allocation of labor to the most productive jobs. Many new and potentially productive firms are small and encounter difficulties in expanding. What are the constraints to productive job creation across different types of firms? The book exploits information from a large number of firms in Latin America and the Caribbean regarding their exposure to and the effect of different aspects of the business climate in the region. Particular emphasis is placed on assessing differences across small, medium, and large firms and, when available, contrasting the responses of formal and informal firms. The book shows that small firms tend to be more constrained by lack of access to finance, macroeconomic instability, competition from informal firms, and corruption, while large firms are hampered by an inappropriate regulatory environment. What is the relative importance of labor market policies in strengthening the creation of productive jobs in the countries of the region? Firms in the region seldom cite labor market regulations as a major concern, even though those regulations are relatively rigid from an international perspective. The book shows that this apparent lack of concern is mainly because other constraints to firms' operation and expansion are more pressing. It also suggests that as other constraints are lifted, inappropriate labor market regulations become a binding constraint. The book goes on to advocate rethinking social protection systems, shifting protection from jobs to workers, and advancing the design of social security programs and labor market policies. The overarching goals are to protect workers while fostering the creation of more and better jobs. 2012-08-01T20:42:40Z 2012-08-01T20:42:40Z 2009 978-0-8213-7623-2 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9386 en_US Latin American Development Forum; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank and New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publications & Research :: Publication Publications & Research Latin America & Caribbean Latin America
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	Creative destruction Firm dynamics Growth decomposition Investment climate Job creation Labor demand Labor demand Labor allocation Structural change
spellingShingle	Creative destruction Firm dynamics Growth decomposition Investment climate Job creation Labor demand Labor demand Labor allocation Structural change Pagés, Carmen Pierre, Gaëlle Scarpetta, Stefano Job Creation in Latin America : Recent Trends and Policy Challenges
geographic_facet	Latin America & Caribbean Latin America
relation	Latin American Development Forum;
description	This book strives to better understand the recent labor market trends in the countries of the region and the factors that underlie the failure of many of those countries to create more, but especially more productive and rewarding jobs. In particular, the book addresses four main questions: how well are the Latin American and Caribbean economies doing in terms of growth and job creation compared with other emerging economies? The book shows that jobless growth concerns only a few Latin American and Caribbean countries. In most of the rest, many jobs have been created over the past decade, but their productivity and pay were low. Is the weak creation of productive jobs the result of lack of dynamism in the economy? To address this question, the book dives into the behavior of firms. In particular, it looks at how resources are reallocated across firms and sectors. This analysis uncovers that, in most countries of the region, many jobs are created and destroyed, but this activity does not necessarily lead to better allocation of labor to the most productive jobs. Many new and potentially productive firms are small and encounter difficulties in expanding. What are the constraints to productive job creation across different types of firms? The book exploits information from a large number of firms in Latin America and the Caribbean regarding their exposure to and the effect of different aspects of the business climate in the region. Particular emphasis is placed on assessing differences across small, medium, and large firms and, when available, contrasting the responses of formal and informal firms. The book shows that small firms tend to be more constrained by lack of access to finance, macroeconomic instability, competition from informal firms, and corruption, while large firms are hampered by an inappropriate regulatory environment. What is the relative importance of labor market policies in strengthening the creation of productive jobs in the countries of the region? Firms in the region seldom cite labor market regulations as a major concern, even though those regulations are relatively rigid from an international perspective. The book shows that this apparent lack of concern is mainly because other constraints to firms' operation and expansion are more pressing. It also suggests that as other constraints are lifted, inappropriate labor market regulations become a binding constraint. The book goes on to advocate rethinking social protection systems, shifting protection from jobs to workers, and advancing the design of social security programs and labor market policies. The overarching goals are to protect workers while fostering the creation of more and better jobs.
format	Publications & Research :: Publication
author	Pagés, Carmen Pierre, Gaëlle Scarpetta, Stefano
author_facet	Pagés, Carmen Pierre, Gaëlle Scarpetta, Stefano
author_sort	Pagés, Carmen
title	Job Creation in Latin America : Recent Trends and Policy Challenges
title_short	Job Creation in Latin America : Recent Trends and Policy Challenges
title_full	Job Creation in Latin America : Recent Trends and Policy Challenges
title_fullStr	Job Creation in Latin America : Recent Trends and Policy Challenges
title_full_unstemmed	Job Creation in Latin America : Recent Trends and Policy Challenges
title_sort	job creation in latin america : recent trends and policy challenges
publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank and New York: Palgrave Macmillan
publishDate	2012
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9386
_version_	1764409348671406080

Job Creation in Latin America : Recent Trends and Policy Challenges

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