Employment In Latin America

Disconnected is a path-breaking analysis of the relationship between schooling and employers in Latin America. It is sophisticated in its design, using multiple surveys and multiple methods. It distinguishes carefully among different types of skills and the relationship of each type to employment outcomes and employer needs. It examines both the demand and the supply side of the labor market. And it provides guidance for further work. We commend this book to all readers, scholars, and practitioners concerned with schooling and job markets in Latin America.

"A study prepared by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)."

Law and Employment analyzes the effects of regulation and deregulation on Latin American labor markets and presents empirically grounded studies of the costs of regulation. Numerous labor regulations that were introduced or reformed in Latin America in the past thirty years have had important economic consequences. Nobel Prize-winning economist James J. Heckman and Carmen Pagés document the behavior of firms attempting to stay in business and be competitive while facing the high costs of complying with these labor laws. They challenge the prevailing view that labor market regulations affect only the distribution of labor incomes and have little or no impact on efficiency or the performance of labor markets. Using new micro-evidence, this volume shows that labor regulations reduce labor market turnover rates and flexibility, promote inequality, and discriminate against marginal workers. Along with in-depth studies of Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Jamaica, and Trinidad, Law and Employment provides comparative analysis of Latin American economies against a range of European countries and the United States. The book breaks new ground by quantifying not only the cost of regulation in Latin America, the Caribbean, and in the OECD, but also the broader impact of this regulation.

More than a decade has passed since the introduction of comprehensive macroeconomic stabilization packages and trade, fiscal, and financial market reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, growth prospects remain disappointing; labor markets show lackluster performance, with low participation rates, high and persistent informality, and, in some cases, open unemployment. Creating viable and lasting employment is vital to reduce poverty and spread prosperity in the region. The failure to create more and more productive and rewarding jobs carries substantial political, social, and economic costs. 'Job Creation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Recent Trends and Policy Challenges' provides a thorough examination of the labor market trends in the region in recent decades and assesses the role that labor demand and labor supply factors have played in shaping these outcomes.

Annotation There is a widespread perception that the structural reforms implemented in Latin America in the 1990s have failed to spur employment growth. This perception is fueled by rising unemployment, slow wage growth, rising wage inequalities and a heightened sense of economic insecurity. This year's edition of Economic and Social Progress in Latin America investigates whether this disappointing outcome can be explained by an abnormal adjustment to rapid changes in goods and capital markets, increased female participation in the workplace, technological change, and secular changes in the sector composition of output. In particular, the book examines whether there are important demands for change that are being thwarted by inappropriate institutions and rigidities. The report documents unemployment and underemployment, employment creation and destruction, productivity growth, and the wage level and inequality. It includes a CD-ROM with data on labor markets in the region.