Notes in this report present the nature of jobs in each sector (except the public sector), the challenges to improving these sectors, and recommended policies to develop sector-specific jobs strategies.
... See More + Building on the government’s Myanmar Sustainable Development Program (MSDP), which provides a framework for jobs policy reform, this report identifies priority area that could have the greatest impact in each sector in promoting this framework. The accompanying Overview document presents the overall jobs picture based on this report. Note 1 addresses the overall Myanmar macroeconomic environment for jobs, while Note two profiles the Myanmar labor force. Notes three, four, five, and six explore jobs in agriculture, household enterprises, the private sector, and through migration. The Notes are designed to be standalone documents that can be used to inform discussions with appropriate Ministries or stakeholders.
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The Myanmar Living Conditions Survey 2017 (MLCS 2017) is an information packed household living standard survey conducted by Myanmar's Central Statistical Organization, from December 2016 to December 2017.
... See More + The survey is representative of the Union Territory, its states and regions and urban and rural areas. It was conducted in all the districts and in 296 of the 330 townships of Myanmar. A total of 13,730 households were interviewed. It collects data on the occupations of people, how much income they earn, and how they use this to meet the food, housing, health, education and other needs of their families. The main focus of the survey is to produce estimates of poverty and living conditions, to provide core data inputs into the System of National Accounts and the Consumer Price Index and to support monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals. The data collected can be used to formulate responsive policies for the future development of the country.
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This issue focuses on FCV Countries and Topics and features the following articles: Confronting the Development Challenges of Fragility, Conflict, and Violence; What Drives the Radicalization of Foreign Terrorist Recruits?
... See More + The Cost of Fear; Leaving, Staying, or Coming Back? Migration Decisionsduring the Northern Mali Conflict; How Myanmar’s Reforms Are Playing Out in Rural Villages; Obstacles on the Road to Economic Growth in the West Bank; Can Public Works Help Postconflict Communities Escape Poverty? Can Mass Media Increase Women’s Political Participation after Civil War? Conflict and Poverty in Afghanistan’s Transition; Who Benefited from Burundi’s Demobilization Program? and U.S. Food Aid and Civil Conflict Revisited: A Methodological Caution .
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Myanmar's economy performed better in 2017/18 with a modest growth acceleration that partially reversed the deterioration experienced in 2016/17.
... See More + While the outlook remains positive, risks have intensified. The economy experienced a broad-based increase in real GDP growth to 6.4 percent in 2017/181 from 5.9 percent in 2016/17. Inflation moderated from 7 percent in 2016/17 to 5.5 percent in 2017/18. The exchange rate was stable and appreciated slightly towards the end of the year, the current account deficit narrowed slightly on strong export growth, and the fiscal deficit also narrowed in the first three quarters of the fiscal year. While performance remains strong and the macroeconomic outlook is positive, there are concerns that the slow pace of reforms, vulnerabilities in the financial sector, and limited progress in addressing the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine are starting to affect business sentiment and could weaken performance. External risks from uncertainty in global trade policy and in commodity prices intensify the downside risks to the growth outlook.
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Myanmar's economy performed better in 2017/18 with a modest growth acceleration that partially reversed the deterioration experienced in 2016/17.
... See More + While the outlook remains positive, risks have intensified. The economy experienced a broad-based increase in real GDP growth to 6.4 percent in 2017/181 from 5.9 percent in 2016/17. Inflation moderated from 7 percent in 2016/17 to 5.5 percent in 2017/18. The exchange rate was stable and appreciated slightly towards the end of the year, the current account deficit narrowed slightly on strong export growth, and the fiscal deficit also narrowed in the first three quarters of the fiscal year. While performance remains strong and the macroeconomic outlook is positive, there are concerns that the slow pace of reforms, vulnerabilities in the financial sector, and limited progress in addressing the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine are starting to affect business sentiment and could weaken performance. External risks from uncertainty in global trade policy and in commodity prices intensify the downside risks to the growth outlook.
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The Myanmar Pay, Compensation and Human Resource Management Review was undertaken in 2015-2017 in response to the Government of Myanmar’s request for advice to inform compensation and human resource policies that reflect country-specific challenges.
... See More + The analysis, generously supported by Denmark, Australia and UK-DFID, was jointly conducted by the Government of Myanmar and the World Bank.In addition to the analysis, the review aimed to develop capacity of government agencies responsible for wage-bill and human resource management. Capacity development happens within institutions, and can only be effective, if government assumes strong ownership. In this context, the Union Cabinet established the “Pay, Compensation, and Human Resource Review Implementation Inter-Ministerial Committee” comprising key ministries to oversee the review. The World Bank team worked closely with a task team in the Ministry of Planning and Finance.The main methods used to review the government’s pay and compensation system included: i) review of government regulations; ii) analysis of administrative data; iii) focus group discussions and a small survey to assess civil servants’ perception about pay and human resource functions; and iv) a model that simulates the impact of potential changes to pay and employment, customized to Myanmar’s circumstances. This model can be applied by the Ministry of Planning and Finance for future wage-bill planning. Specifically, the model helped highlight that size of the wage bill is not an immediate concern. Its rapid growth in recent years, as well as growing fiscal vulnerabilities from potential external shocks, demand closer attention to overall growth in the public-sector wage bill. Future salary increases may need careful targeting given the growing attractiveness of the private sector as a career option for young talent and professionals.The review also drills down on the education sector. Constituting nearly 40 percent of the total workforce employed by the Union Government, the education sector makes up nearly one-half of the union budget’s wage bill. The review also provides important context for teacher policy on employment and pay, and suggests reform options for managing teacher workforce for better education outcomes.The findings suggest a series of policy priorities for improving the performance of the civil service. The report includes a wealth of findings and practical, realistic recommendations. However, it is only the first step on the long journey of evidence-based reforms to manage wage bill and performance of the Myanmar civil service. The Government of Myanmar and the Bank will continue to work together during implementation of the recommendations, and for future research and analysis.
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The Myanmar Pay, Compensation and Human Resource Management Review was undertaken in 2015-2017 in response to the Government of Myanmar’s request for advice to inform compensation and human resource policies that reflect country-specific challenges.
... See More + The analysis, generously supported by Denmark, Australia and UK-DFID, was jointly conducted by the Government of Myanmar and the World Bank.In addition to the analysis, the review aimed to develop capacity of government agencies responsible for wage-bill and human resource management. Capacity development happens within institutions, and can only be effective, if government assumes strong ownership. In this context, the Union Cabinet established the “Pay, Compensation, and Human Resource Review Implementation Inter-Ministerial Committee” comprising key ministries to oversee the review. The World Bank team worked closely with a task team in the Ministry of Planning and Finance.The main methods used to review the government’s pay and compensation system included: i) review of government regulations; ii) analysis of administrative data; iii) focus group discussions and a small survey to assess civil servants’ perception about pay and human resource functions; and iv) a model that simulates the impact of potential changes to pay and employment, customized to Myanmar’s circumstances. This model can be applied by the Ministry of Planning and Finance for future wage-bill planning. Specifically, the model helped highlight that size of the wage bill is not an immediate concern. Its rapid growth in recent years, as well as growing fiscal vulnerabilities from potential external shocks, demand closer attention to overall growth in the public-sector wage bill. Future salary increases may need careful targeting given the growing attractiveness of the private sector as a career option for young talent and professionals.The review also drills down on the education sector. Constituting nearly 40 percent of the total workforce employed by the Union Government, the education sector makes up nearly one-half of the union budget’s wage bill. The review also provides important context for teacher policy on employment and pay, and suggests reform options for managing teacher workforce for better education outcomes.The findings suggest a series of policy priorities for improving the performance of the civil service. The report includes a wealth of findings and practical, realistic recommendations. However, it is only the first step on the long journey of evidence-based reforms to manage wage bill and performance of the Myanmar civil service. The Government of Myanmar and the Bank will continue to work together during implementation of the recommendations, and for future research and analysis.
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Working Paper 124697 JAN 01, 2018
Davidsen,Soren; Orac,Jana; Mills,Zac; Nandar Linn, Daw Soe; Ragatz,AndyBurmeseDisclosed
On May 2, 2008, Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Delta and swept across the region toward Yangon. By the time the storm had passed, it had killed over 140,000 people, tearing apart families, destroying homes, and shattering livelihoods.
... See More + In the months and years following Nargis,communities, supported by the national and international aid community, worked to rebuild their lives and repair the devastation that the cyclone had caused. Homes were rebuilt, paddy field walls repaired, and new fishing boats purchased. However, even as the process of recovery inched forward, villagers have had to contend with new and diverse shocks and changes that have both enabled and slowed their efforts to rebuild. Among others, climate change has led to unpredictable weather, hampering livelihoods, while the migration boom to Yangon and elsewhere has provided economic opportunity even as it has altered the local social fabric. These more recent issues have had a complex inter-relationship with changes wrought by Nargis. As time has passed, they have become the primary concern of most villages studied by the social impacts monitoring (SIM) research. But the long-term effects of Nargis remain visible, combining with newer issues to create new challenges,exacerbate old problems, and, in some cases, even hasten the recovery process. By focusing on a panel of 40 Nargis-affected villages across time, five rounds of SIM have been able to track how village life has changed both post-Nargis and, in more recent years, as villagers faced both new challenges and continued recovery from Nargis. This fifth round of SIM (SIM 5) provides a snapshot of village economic and social life in 2017 and analyzes change over more than nine years since Nargis. It assesses three main areas: (i) This focus area examines the conditions of livelihoods and the local socioeconomy in the context of Nargis’ destruction and the evolving context of the rural economy across Myanmar over the past five years. It looks at the three main livelihood groups (farmers, fishers, and landless laborers) and at key issues such as debt, land, and housing and local infrastructure; (ii) This area assesses how communities have dealt with both the long-term social upheaval caused by Nargis and the more recent (but no less dramatic) changes that have accompanied Myanmar’s political and economic transition; (iii) New to this round of SIM, the final analytical focus area identifies what recovery and resilience mean for households and communities in the Ayeyarwady Delta, what factors are most important in the recovery process and in building resilience, and to what extent villagers have had and have the capacity to develop both; SIM 5 placed particular emphasis on understanding change over time, both since 2013 (when the SIM 4 research was conducted) and prior to Cyclone Nargis. As much as possible, SIM 5 draws causal links between exogenous events (such as cyclones, other natural disasters, political change, and national economic development) and household and community actions.
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Myanmar is a hard-working country. There are more than 24 million jobs in Myanmar, consisting of both income and in-kind earning activities. These jobs are behind Myanmar’s enviable recent economic growth rates.
... See More + They are the main source of income for households, particularly poor households, and they can strengthen social cohesion, a particularly valuable outcome in an ethnically diverse and conflict-affected country. This overview presents proposals to promote the growth of better jobs in Myanmar beyond those that are likely to be produced by a strategy focused solely on economic growth. The full report includes the following notes: Note 1 is about a macroeconomic context for more and better jobs; Note 2 addresses Myanmar’s labor force; Note 3 explains about jobs in agriculture in Myanmar; Note 4 looks at the micro enterprises in Myanmar; Note 5 suggests promoting jobs through Myanmar’s private sector; and Note 6 concludes with migration as a jobs strategy. This overview pulls together these sector-specific analyses and policy recommendations and presents priority job creation policies for the whole Myanmar economy.
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The assessment jointly conducted by the Ministry of Planning and Finance and the World Bank produced two reports. The first report, Part One (MOPF and WB, 2017a), put forward trends in poverty over time using the two poverty estimation methodologies previously used in Myanmar.
... See More + The first report also made the recommendation to revise and rebase the poverty methodology to reflect the needs of the poor using data from the MPLCS in 2015. Updates to a country's welfare aggregate and poverty line are recommended approximately every ten years to reflect changes in living conditions that occur as a country gets richer (such as a shift in the basket of goods from food to non-food goods) and to reflect changes in survey and poverty estimation methodology.
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This report presents findings from a joint analysis of poverty and living conditions in 2015, conducted by the Ministry of Planning and Finance and the World Bank Group.
... See More + The report draws upon the Myanmar Poverty and Living Conditions Survey (MPLCS), fielded in early 2015. Part one of the assessment reviews poverty trends based on previous poverty measurement methodologies used in Myanmar and recommends that the method for measuring poverty is revised to reflect standards of living in 2015. Part two presents the poverty trend and profile based on a new poverty measure.
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A joint analysis of poverty and living standards was conducted by a technical team from the Ministry of Planning and Finance, Government of Myanmar, and the Poverty and Equity Global Practice of the World Bank.
... See More + Poverty has previously been estimated using data from the Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey conducted in 2004/05 and 2009/10. Using this earlier data, poverty in Myanmar has been estimated using two different approaches. Poverty was initially measured by the Government of Myanmar and its development partners using data from IHLCA-I ("MNPED et al (2007)" methodology); this first measure of poverty based the poverty line and estimate in the living conditions of 2004/05. Poverty was estimated to be 32.1 percent in 2004/05 and was estimated to have dropped to 25.6 percent in 2009/10 (MNPED et al, 2007 and MNPED et al, 2011). A poverty estimate based on 2009/10 standards of living was put forward by the World Bank in 2014 ("World Bank (2014)" methodology), using data from the IHLCA-II. The World Bank estimated poverty to be 37.5 percent in 2009/10 (World Bank, 2014).
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This report presents findings from a joint analysis of poverty and living conditions in 2015, conducted by the Ministry of Planning and Finance and the World Bank Group.
... See More + The report draws upon the Myanmar Poverty and Living Conditions Survey (MPLCS), fielded in early 2015. Part one of the assessment reviews poverty trends based on previous poverty measurement methodologies used in Myanmar and recommends that the method for measuring poverty is revised to reflect standards of living in 2015. Part two presents the poverty trend and profile based on a new poverty measure.
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This brief presents: Myanmar’s snapshot; existing national plans and policies to achieve universal health coverage (UHC); key challenges on the way to UHC; and collaborative efforts to accelerate progress toward UHC.
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Cultural heritage is vulnerable to the adverse impacts of natural disasters, and climate change is adding to the urgency of addressing this challenge.
... See More + Countries around the world are employing a variety of measures to safeguard cultural heritage against disaster risks, drawing on relevant conventions, policy frameworks, and guidance. To protect lives, livelihoods, and cultural heritage, it is important to strengthen the resilience of assets at risk and make disaster resilience an intrinsic part of cultural heritage management. This note highlights a number of recommendations that can help policy makers and practitioners further develop DRM practices for more resilient cultural heritage.
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Doing Business 2018 is the 15th in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
... See More + This economy profile presents the Doing Business indicators for Myanmar. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulation and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies; for 2018 Myanmar ranks 171. Doing Business measures aspects of regulation affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year’s ranking on the ease of doing business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation, which is not included in this year’s ranking. Data in Doing Business 2018 are current as of June 1, 2017. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, where and why.
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Myanmar’s macroeconomic environment remains stable, though economic growth is estimated to have slowed to 5.9 percent in 2016-17 compared to 7 percent in 2015-16, weighed down by slower investment demand.
... See More + Growth is projected to recover to 6.4 percent in 2017-18, though risks are tilted to the downside due to the recent escalation of tensions in Rakhine State and the potential stalling of the overall reform agenda. Baseline projections assume that the authorities will move to a medium-term economic reform program to sustain hard earned macroeconomic stability gains and accelerate inclusive growth. Accelerating much needed investments in the economy will also require progress on structural reforms in, among other areas, finance, energy, and business regulations. On access to finance, implementation of the recently adopted prudential regulations under the Financial Institutions Law are expected to support financial sector stability and to manage risks. The banking community however has sought more time to comply with the new regulations because current deadlines might put pressure on the financial system. Progress on reform of State Owned Banks is expected over the coming months starting with international audits. At the same time, steps to develop a secured transaction framework and credit bureau licensing should help to improve access to finance and credit quality. On access to electricity, priorities include finalizing the power sector master plan and associated decisions on dealing with gas supply shortages, electricity tariff adjustments with protection for vulnerable groups, and institutional reforms (e.g. establishment of regulatory agency). On business regulations, priorities include implementation of the 2016 investment law, adoption of the companies act, and aligning customs procedures in valuation of goods with international practices.
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Cultural heritage is vulnerable to the adverse impacts of natural disasters, and climate change is adding to the urgency of addressing this challenge.
... See More + Countries around the world are employing a variety of measures to safeguard cultural heritage against disaster risks, drawing on relevant conventions, policy frameworks, and guidance. To protect lives, livelihoods, and cultural heritage, it is important to strengthen the resilience of assets at risk and make disaster resilience an intrinsic part of cultural heritage management. This note highlights a number of recommendations that can help policy makers and practitioners further develop DRM practices for more resilient cultural heritage.
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