1 Oct 2012

WASHINGTON / JOBS

In developing countries, jobs are a cornerstone of development, with a pay off far beyond income alone. They are critical for reducing poverty, making cities work, and providing youth with alternatives to violence, says a new World Bank report. WORLD BANK

Posted at: October 1, 2012 7:05 pm

Duration: 01:09

Available in: SD

DOWNLOAD

Full script

STORY: WASHINGTON / JOBS
TRT: 1.09
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
RESTRICTIONS: EMBARGOED UNTIL OCTOBER 1, 2012 AT 7 PM EDT (11 PM GMT)
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

DATELINE: 01 OCTOBER 2012, WASHINGTON DC/ FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – 2010, MAURITANIA

1.	Med shot, woman purchasing goods from store 
2.	Close up, man putting goods in bag 
3.	Med shot, man handing goods to woman

FILE – UNKNOWN DATE AND LOCATION

4.	Various shots, baker at work

FILE – 2011, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

5.	Med shot, woman driving truck, 
6.	Close up, woman's hands on steering wheel 
7.	Med shot of woman directing truck

WASHINGTON DC, 1 OCTOBER 2012

8.	SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank Group:
"Good jobs are not just important for making a living. Good jobs give people dignity and we've found that it contributes to social cohesion. There's lots a government can do to create an environment where especially small and medium sized enterprises can create the kind of good jobs that people need and people want."
9.	SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank Group:
"The report shows that 90 percent of all jobs are created in the private sector. And so governments have a very strong role to play in creating the kind of conditions that will encourage investment, especially in small and medium enterprises. What we've found is that there are ways to regulate the industry but in a smart way, in a way that streamlines procedures and reduces the amount of time it takes to register a business. If you do those sorts of things, there's a much greater likelihood that good jobs will be created."
10.	SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank Group:
"One of the things we've seen, especially in the Arab Spring countries, is that it's possible to have economic growth that's not inclusive, and that causes fundamental instability in countries. It's important for governments to make sure that everyone can participate in economic growth through providing education, healthcare services, social protection. Governments can ensure that economies grow and people participate."

STORYLINE:

The World Development Report (WDR) 2013: Jobs stresses the role of strong private sector led growth in creating jobs and outlines how jobs that do the most for development can spur a virtuous cycle. The report finds that poverty falls as people work their way out of hardship and as jobs empower women to invest more in their children. Efficiency increases as workers get better at what they do, as more productive jobs appear, and as less productive ones disappear. Societies flourish as jobs foster diversity and provide alternatives to conflict.

The report's authors highlight how jobs with the greatest development payoffs are those that raise incomes, make cities function better, connect the economy to global markets, protect the environment, and give people a stake in their societies.

The global economic crisis and other recent events have raised employment issues to the centre of the development dialogue. The WDR authors, who processed over 800 surveys and censuses to arrive at their findings, estimate that worldwide, more than 3 billion people are working, but nearly half work in farming, small household enterprises, or in casual or seasonal day labour, where safety nets are modest or sometimes non-existent and earnings are often meagre.

But in many developing countries, where farming and self-employment are prevalent and safety nets are modest at best, unemployment rates can be low. In those places, most poor people work long hours but cannot make ends meet. And the violation of basic rights is not uncommon. Therefore, the quality and not just the number of jobs is vitally important.

The Report advances a three-stage approach to help governments meet these objectives:

First, solid fundamentals – including macroeconomic stability, an enabling business environment, human capital, and the rule of law- have to be in place.

Second, labour policies should not become an obstacle to job creation; they should also provide access to voice and social protection to the most vulnerable.

Third, governments should identify which jobs would do the most for development given their specific country context, and remove or offset obstacles to private sector creation of such jobs.

Understanding the particular jobs challenge for a given region or country is essential. Differences in the structure of employment across regions, across genders, and across age groups are striking. For example, 6 out of 7 workers in Eastern Europe and Central Asia are wage earners, but 4 out of 5 workers in Sub-Saharan African are farmers of self-employed. Many more women than men are in non-wage work in low- and lower-middle income countries. Meanwhile, in middle-income countries women are more likely to be wage workers, though too often they earn less than men.

Policy priorities are different in agrarian societies and in urbanizing countries.  Making smallholder farming more productive is key in the first case, while better infrastructure, connectivity, housing, and city planning are vital in the second. Demography matters too. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 10 million youth enter the labour force every year, but in many middle-income countries the population is aging and in some the labour force is shrinking. Skills and the removal of privilege in access to markets and jobs are needed to tackle youth unemployment. But longer working lives and affordable social protection are needed in aging societies.

Focusing on the key features of different country types can help identify more clearly the kinds of jobs that would make the greatest contribution to development in each case. This focus allows for an analysis of the potential tradeoffs between living standards, productivity, and social cohesion in a specific context. It provides clues about the obstacles to job creation and, ultimately, the priorities for policy makers as they identify the most important constraints to job creation and how to overcome them.

Policy makers should tackle these challenges by answering such questions as: Should countries build their development strategies around growth, or should they focus on jobs?  Can entrepreneurship be fostered, especially among microenterprises in developing countries, or are entrepreneurs born?  Are greater investments in education and training a prerequisite for employability, or can skills be built through jobs?  Amidst crises and structural shifts, should jobs, not just workers, be protected?

Jobs agendas at the country level are connected by the migration of people and the migration of jobs. Policies for jobs in one country can thus have spillovers on other countries – both positive and negative.  The report explores whether international coordination mechanisms, such as bilateral migration agreements, could enhance the positives and mitigate the negatives.

The World Bank Group fosters job growth through its two main channels of support to the developing world -- the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA) as well as through the IFC and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. Assistance comes in the form of policy advice, support for private sector development plus loans and programs to advance urbanization, infrastructure and human development (including social protection).

Filed under WORLD BANK.