As countries develop (and food saturation takes hold), agriculture's role as domestic employer declines. But the broader agri-food system also expands, and the scope for agriculture-related job creation shifts beyond the farm.
... See More + Historically, technological revolutions have shaped and been shaped by these dynamics. Today, a digital revolution is taking hold, affecting agricultural labor and skill demands. In this process, societies evolve from having a surplus to a shortage of domestic farm labor, typically met largely by foreign agricultural wage workers. Yet, anti-immigration sentiments are flying high in migrant-destination countries, and robots in the fields and packing plants offer an alternative. Agricultural trade may be similarly challenged. In the world's poorest countries, particularly in Africa, labor productivity in agriculture remains at historically low levels. So, what can the role of agriculture as a source of employment be in the future? This viewpoint elaborates on these trends and reviews several policy options, including inclusive value chain development, better immigration policies, social insurance schemes, and ramp up in agricultural education and extension.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS9193 MAR 24, 2020
This note documents the status of tourism statistics collection and availability in Sint Maarten and recommends specific steps for improvement.
... See More + Improving tourism sector performance data is critical to properly assess trends, inform policy, and attract private investment to support sector recovery and on-going development. Improved data collection and dissemination would facilitate establishing a platform for investment promotion and generation. Further, it would enable evidenced-based policies for integrated tourism development. Based on an assessment by the World Bank in collaboration with staff at the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications (TEATT), in particular the Sint Maarten Tourism Bureau (STB) and the Department of Statistics (STAT), this note provides: i) an overview of the current availability of tourism statistics in Sint Maarten, ii) the strengths and weaknesses of the available data, iii) options to address weaknesses, and iv) recommended actions. The recommended actions are summarized in Table 1 below, with short-term priorities including strengthening and expanding the current exit survey process and establishing a multi-stakeholder taskforce to coordinate and monitor efforts to improve tourism statistics. It is recommended that the directive to implement these recommendations and establish a coordinating taskforce be given at the highest political level, to ensure adequate resources, time, and commitment can be given to achieving the critical objective of improving tourism statistics that can guide Sint Maarten’s economic advancement.
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Hurricane Irma severely disrupted tourism sector activity in Sint Maarten after hitting the islandin September 2017. Hotels were completely or partly destroyed; the cruise piers were damaged; and the airport was completely closed for a month and remains only partially operational.
... See More + The recovery of the tourism sector and economy overall is underway, and data on the sector and its recovery is critical to inform the ongoing planning efforts. However, Hurricane Irma and its aftermath disrupted the systematic collection of tourism statistics. The introduction of the new immigration system at the international airport was halted due to the hurricane and only a limited amount of data is currently collected at the airport. Surveys of stay-over visitors and cruise passengers planned for 2017 were not completed. Even prior to the hurricane, tourism statistics in Sint Maarten were incomplete and managed by a range of stakeholders, constraining sector development and planning efforts. In this context, this note provides a profile of the current demand and supply of tourism in Sint Maarten. It compiles and presents the most recently available data from a range of public and private entities, including on tourism and the economy; tourism arrivals; market characteristics of visitors and the tourism sector; and accommodation types and supply. Given the disruption in 2017, the note uses supply and demand data for 2016 as a baseline. Arrival trends for post-Irma 2017 as well as 2018 must be considered atypical. Much of the island’s lodging supply is not available yet and thus the current demand trends reflect a market that is somewhat different from before the hurricane. Also, given that the international airport caters to both St Maarten as well as the French St Martin, many of the statistics collected do not differentiate between visitors that overnight in Sint Maarten and those that stay in St Martin. In this note, wherever specific statistics for Sint Maarten are not available, statistics are referred to as ‘island’ data. In addition to the descriptive summaries in the main section of the report, the Annex also presents all readily available tourism sector data in table format.
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This paper provides the first systematic analysis of migration to, within, and from Libya. The data used in the analysis are from the Displacement Tracking Matrix data set of the International Organization for Migration.
... See More + The analysis uses this unique source of data, combining several techniques to analyze various dimensions of migration in Libya. First, the paper provides a detailed description of the demographic characteristics and national composition of the migrant populations in Libya. Next, it discusses the determinants of migration flow within Libya. The findings show that migration in Libya can be characterized as forced migration, because conflict intensity is the main determinant of the decision to relocate across provinces. Finally, the paper describes the direction, composition, and evolution of international migration flows passing through Libya and identifies the mechanisms of location selection by migrants within Libya by identifying hotspots and cluster provinces.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS9110 JAN 14, 2020
Di Maio,Michele; Leone Sciabolazza,Valerio; Molini,VascoDisclosed
This issue focuses on Global Migration and features the following articles: Migration is Key for Reducing Poverty and Sustaining Economic Growth; How Labor Markets Fit Into the Global Migration Debate; How Big is the Payoff From Migration?
... See More + Evidence from a Lottery; Reducing Barriers to Migration Boosts Welfare in China's Rural Villages; Exposure to Immigrant Classmates and Natives' Test Scores; Exposure to Immigrant Classmates and Natives' Test Scores; How Aging, Education, and Migration Affect Wages; Highly Skilled Migration: "Brain Drain" or "Brain Gain"? Aging, Trade, and Migration; Global Spillovers of National Migration Policies; and Getting a Better Sense of How Long Refugees Have Been in Exile; Creating a Migrant Rights Database.
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This paper responds to a request from the World Bank’s Executive Directors for an update in the area of economic or voluntary migration since the previous Board discussion of the topic on August 25, 2016.
... See More + This paper has four objectives: to provide an update on data, drivers, and impacts in section two, to briefly discuss the changes in international governance, including the adoption of the global compact on migration in section three; to describe pertinent World Bank Group activities during FY2017-19 in section four; and to suggest future areas of activity in section five.
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Global growth continued to dampen in 2019, amid heightened policy uncertainty and deceleration of global investment and trade. Growth in the emerging and developing countries of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is expected to slow to 1.8 percent in 2019 (down from 3.2 percent in 2018), a four-year low.
... See More + This update summarizes the recent developments and outlook for the region. It also focuses on labor mobility, which can mitigate demographic trends and produce significant growth and poverty reduction benefits for the region.
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Global growth continued to dampen in 2019, amid heightened policy uncertainty and deceleration of global investment and trade. Growth in the emerging and developing countries of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is expected to slow to 1.8 percent in 2019 (down from 3.2 percent in 2018), a four-year low.
... See More + This update summarizes the recent developments and outlook for the region. It also focuses on labor mobility, which can mitigate demographic trends and produce significant growth and poverty reduction benefits for the region.
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