A few years ago, Gergana Ivanova became famous in my country, Bulgaria. She became the first woman to serve in the national guards’ unit and the first guardswoman to stand in front of the presidency – not only a great honor but also a dream she has had since she was in first grade. She…
Targeted household-level economic inclusion programs are on the rise: nearly 100 programs across 43 countries have reached an estimated 14 million people to date, according to the Partnership for Economic Inclusion’s (PEI) 2018 State of the Sector report. These programs provide a “big push” to help the extreme poor and other vulnerable people move into…
Social enterprises have plenty of potential to make concrete impacts on youth employment outcomes. For those not familiar with this model, social enterprises are businesses that conduct commercial, profit-generating activities but focus more on social outcomes than profits. This innovative approach in development has caught the attention of many in the youth employment space, especially…
Many people in Sub-Saharan Africa still work in agriculture; on average, over half of the labor force, and even more in poorer countries and localities. Yet the share of the labor force in agriculture is declining (as is normal in development), leading African leaders and economists to focus on job creation outside agriculture. Planning for…
Let’s face it: assessing the results of a development project can be as complex as designing and implementing it. This is particularly true for projects that aim to create more and better jobs for all population groups and often work across sectors: how do we measure the number of newly created jobs through a private…
Digital technologies affect employment through complex channels: automation, connectivity, and innovation. Labor-saving technologies coupled with reshoring may disrupt labor markets in developing countries and result in job losses. Yet, technological change drives productivity gains in both white-collar and blue-collar jobs either through ICT uptake or modern mechanical technologies. The ‘gig economy’ changes the traditional employer-employee…
Since the concept of the “informal sector” was coined half a century ago, countries all over the world have promoted the formalization of small- and medium-size enterprises. The perceived benefits of formalization include better access to credit, justice, large formal clients, and, for the government, higher tax revenues. But according to recent literature, most formalization…
Press Release | September 5, 2018 Digital jobs can bring new employment opportunities for young women in developing countries, says a new report by the Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE) coalition. The report, titled Digital Jobs for Youth: Young Women in the Digital Economy, incorporates insights drawn from 19 case studies and lays out how…
There are more informal workers than formal workers across the globe, and yet there remains confusion as to what makes workers or firms informal and how to measure the extent of it. Informal work and informal economic activities imply large efficiency and welfare losses, in terms of low productivity, low earnings, sub-standard working conditions, and…
The path to inclusive growth in Mozambique lies in the generation of higher quality jobs, says a new World Bank report launched today in Maputo. According to the Mozambique Jobs Diagnostic, the existing development model, although it has achieved substantial poverty reduction since the 1990s, is limited in its capacity to support continued poverty reduction. Over…