Part I: Jobs are
transformational. We tend to
neglect jobs when thinking about growth, while in reality they are at the
center of development. Jobs connect improvements in living standards,
productivity gains and social cohesion.
Part II: What is a “good
job”? Some jobs do more for
economic and social development than others, because they reduce poverty and
inequality, strengthen value chains and production clusters, or help build
trust and shared values.
Part III: Policies through
the jobs lens. Understanding how
labor markets interact with government and market imperfections, and how this
interaction affects development goals, is the key to identifying and
evaluating policies for the creation of good jobs.
Living standards. Growth in labor earnings leads to improvements in
households’ material and subjective well-being. But growth in earnings cannot
be taken for granted and who gets those earnings matters.
Productivity. Job creation, destruction and reallocation may
matter more in developing countries, where the dispersion of labor
productivity is wide. Some jobs lead to sizeable productive externalities.
Social cohesion. Employment status is correlated with trust and with
civic engagement, which suggests a possible impact of jobs on social cohesion.
But some jobs may have a greater impact on cohesion than others.
Summary of Part II
Good jobs. They are usually seen from an individual angle
(earnings and benefits), often from an aspirational point of view. But from a
development perspective they are those contributing the most to long-term
societal goals.
Diverse jobs agendas. Countries differ in the set of job-creation
possibilities realistically available to them at a particular point in time;
they often differ in their societal goals too. Jobs agendas are thus country-
and context-specific.
Interconnected jobs
agendas. Global jobs agendas
address global welfare goals, but their roll-out can only be
country-specific. The global migration of jobs and workers creates
opportunities to improve well-being on a global scale, but it also raises the
specter of a global fight for jobs.
Summary of Part III
The jobs lens. Because of market and government imperfections,
the social value of a job can be different from the earnings associated
with it. The social value also depends on societal preferences. Making the
wedges between individual and social values explicit can guide policy
choices.
Policy evaluation. Those wedges may be difficult to quantify, but
understanding their source is important to understand where the obstacles
to the creation of good jobs lie, and to assess the costs and benefits of
policies aimed at removing those obstacles.
The difficult questions. The jobs lens allows rigorous analysis of some
of the most controversial issues policy makers around the world are
confronting. The answers crucially depend on the balance between market and
government imperfections.
Summary of Part II
Good jobs. They are usually seen from an individual angle
(earnings and benefits), often from an aspirational point of view. But from a
development perspective they are those contributing the most to long-term
societal goals.
Diverse jobs agendas. Countries differ in the set of job-creation
possibilities realistically available to them at a particular point in time;
they often differ in their societal goals too. Jobs agendas are thus country-
and context-specific.
Interconnected jobs
agendas. Global jobs agendas
address global welfare goals, but their roll-out can only be
country-specific. The global migration of jobs and workers creates
opportunities to improve well-being on a global scale, but it also raises the
specter of a global fight for jobs.
Summary of Part III
The jobs lens. Because of market and government imperfections,
the social value of a job can be different from the earnings associated
with it. The social value also depends on societal preferences. Making the
wedges between individual and social values explicit can guide policy
choices.
Policy evaluation. Those wedges may be difficult to quantify, but
understanding their source is important to understand where the obstacles
to the creation of good jobs lie, and to assess the costs and benefits of
policies aimed at removing those obstacles.
The difficult questions. The jobs lens allows rigorous analysis of some
of the most controversial issues policy makers around the world are
confronting. The answers crucially depend on the balance between market and
government imperfections.
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