The development objective of the Rural Safety Net Project for Ethiopia is to support the Government of Ethiopia in improving the effectiveness and scalability of its rural safety net system.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: (i) ensure drainage controls on new roads and rehabilitate temporary access following subproject implementation; (ii) minimize water crossings in road location and alignment; (iii) avoid interference with informal land users, and take measures to provide them access to alternative lands or resources; (iv) ensure that yards and storage areas include safety measures, as well as procedures for managing waste and avoiding placement in areas that are used for pastoralism, farming, etc.; (v) assess water supply and existing demands, and manage sustainability; (vi) identify and avoid effects of diversion or extraction on downstream ecosystems that depend on the surface or groundwater supply; (vii) provide training to farmers on sustainable irrigated agriculture, including maintenance of infrastructure; (viii) protect and encourage regeneration of endemic species; (ix) establish a water users committee through the kebele and equitable rules for water allocation; ensure a local grievance redress system is in place; (x) construction sites should include procedures for managing waste; local communities should be informed about temporary disturbance, noise, dust, etc.
See Less -
This paper uncovers the reason why social networks are used in a job market. The data are novel: a nationally representative matched employer-employee data set in Bangladesh with detailed information, including direct measures of the use of social networks.
... See More + The empirical analysis shows that compared with those who used open channels to find jobs, the employees who used social networks found jobs more easily, have lower observable abilities, and achieved lower employment outcomes conditional on observable and unobservable abilities. These results are robust whether firm-occupation fixed effects are controlled for or not. By comparing these findings with theoretical predictions, the paper concludes that social networks play the role as fast and easy but narrow-spectrum matching. That is, social networks allow job seekers to find jobs quickly and easily and thereby reduce search costs, but the types of jobs available from social networks are narrower than those from open channels. As a consequence, those who choose to use social networks are more likely to end up having mismatched jobs, that is jobs in which they cannot take advantage of their specialties. In the context of developing countries, a considerable number of poor job seekers may use social networks out of necessity even if the returns to finding good-match jobs through open channels are sufficiently high.
See Less -
Policy Research Working Paper WPS8107 JUN 20, 2017
The development objective of the Guangdong Social Security Integration and Rural Worker Training Project for China is to to enhance portability of social security data and beneficiary entitlements, and to strengthen the skills base and employment prospects of rurban and rural workers in Guangdong.
... See More + The Ministry of Finance (MOF) of China, in the letter dated April 18, 2017, requested the World Bank to restructure the project.The PDO will be achieved through two channels: (a) establishment of an integrated provincial management information system (MIS) to enhance administration of social insurance and labor market programs and (b) improving the quality, relevance, and access to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in project schools and the efficiency of its delivery for rural workers, with particular emphasis on short-term training. Accordingly, two components are built into the project: Social SecurityIntegration (USD 45 million IBRD financing) and Rural Worker Training (USD 35 million IBRD financing). The project is implemented by the Department for Human Resources and Social Security (DHRSS) of Guangdong.The Government counterparts and the project implementation units have confirmed that they will carry out the activities as planned and maintain the current loan allocation and the time frame. With the experiences and lessons learned from the pilots in two cities, the integrated provincial social security system will be scaled up for the other 19 prefectures/cities in 2017-2018, with an aggressive timeline. With the strengthened capacity in project management, the project schools will complete the teaching facilities, upgrade the practice training equipment, and improve the quality and relevance of training activities before the project closing.
See Less -
The development objective of the Empowering Poor Communities and Micro-Entrepreneurs in the Georgia Tourism Sector Project for Georgia is to generate employment and increase household incomes for poor and vulnerable communities in the Kakheti and Imereti regions by supporting them to: (i) start and grow micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism sector, and (ii) implement small works for the conservation and maintenance of cultural heritage sites.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; construction waste will be collected and disposed properly by licensed collectors; construction noise will be limited to restricted times agreed to in the permit; During operations the engine covers of generators, air compressors and other powered mechanical equipment shall be closed, and equipment placed as far away from residential areas as possible; if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation; it shall be ensured that provisions are put in place so that artifacts or other possible ‘chance finds’ encountered in excavation or construction are noted and registered, responsible officials contacted, and works activities delayed or modified to account for such finds; all recognized natural habitats, wetlands and protected areas in the immediate vicinity of the activity will not be damaged or exploited, all staff will be strictly prohibited from hunting, foraging, logging or other damaging activities; Active traffic management by trained and visible staff at the site, if required for safe and convenient passage for the public; and ensuring safe and continuous access to office facilities, shops and residences during renovation activities, if the buildings stay open for the public.
See Less -
The development objective of the Empowering Poor Communities and Micro-Entrepreneurs in the Georgia Tourism Sector Project for Georgia is to generate employment and increase household incomes for poor and vulnerable communities in the Kakheti and Imereti regions by supporting them to: (i) start and grow micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism sector, and (ii) implement small works for the conservation and maintenance of cultural heritage sites.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; construction waste will be collected and disposed properly by licensed collectors; construction noise will be limited to restricted times agreed to in the permit; During operations the engine covers of generators, air compressors and other powered mechanical equipment shall be closed, and equipment placed as far away from residential areas as possible; if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation; it shall be ensured that provisions are put in place so that artifacts or other possible ‘chance finds’ encountered in excavation or construction are noted and registered, responsible officials contacted, and works activities delayed or modified to account for such finds; all recognized natural habitats, wetlands and protected areas in the immediate vicinity of the activity will not be damaged or exploited, all staff will be strictly prohibited from hunting, foraging, logging or other damaging activities; Active traffic management by trained and visible staff at the site, if required for safe and convenient passage for the public; and ensuring safe and continuous access to office facilities, shops and residences during renovation activities, if the buildings stay open for the public.
See Less -
The development objective of the Empowering Poor Communities and Micro-Entrepreneurs in the Georgia Tourism Sector Project for Georgia is to generate employment and increase household incomes for poor and vulnerable communities in the Kakheti and Imereti regions by supporting them to: (i) start and grow micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism sector, and (ii) implement small works for the conservation and maintenance of cultural heritage sites.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; construction waste will be collected and disposed properly by licensed collectors; construction noise will be limited to restricted times agreed to in the permit; During operations the engine covers of generators, air compressors and other powered mechanical equipment shall be closed, and equipment placed as far away from residential areas as possible; if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation; it shall be ensured that provisions are put in place so that artifacts or other possible ‘chance finds’ encountered in excavation or construction are noted and registered, responsible officials contacted, and works activities delayed or modified to account for such finds; all recognized natural habitats, wetlands and protected areas in the immediate vicinity of the activity will not be damaged or exploited, all staff will be strictly prohibited from hunting, foraging, logging or other damaging activities; Active traffic management by trained and visible staff at the site, if required for safe and convenient passage for the public; and ensuring safe and continuous access to office facilities, shops and residences during renovation activities, if the buildings stay open for the public.
See Less -
This paper uses nationally representative panel data and a combination of econometric approaches, to explore linkages between rural non-farm activities (wage and self-employment) and household welfare in rural Malawi.
... See More + The paper analyzes the average treatment effects and distributional effects on participants' welfare indicators, such as households' per capita consumption expenditures. Then it investigates the effects of non-farm activities on the use of agricultural inputs, one channel through which non-farm employment might improve the welfare of rural households. Although participation in non-farm activities is not randomly assigned in the data, the identification strategy relies on fixed effects and correlated random effects estimation methods, dealing effectively with time invariant heterogeneity, coupled with geographical covariate adjustments, controlling for time varying differences in local market conditions and employment opportunities. The results suggest that non-farm wage employment and non-farm self-employment are welfare improving and poverty reducing. However, households at the lower tail of the wealth distribution benefit significantly less from participation than the wealthiest. Although the results support the promotion of the rural non-farm economy for poverty reduction purposes, they indicate that targeted interventions that improve poor households’ access to high-return non-farm opportunities are likely to lead to bigger successes in curbing rural poverty.
See Less -
Policy Research Working Paper WPS8096 JUN 08, 2017
Adjognon,Guigonan Serge; Liverpool-Tasie,Saweda Lenis; De La Fuente,Alejandro; Benfica,Rui ManuelDisclosed
Women entrepreneurs play a critical role in economic development by boosting growth and creating jobs, particularly in the bottom 40 percent. However, women face numerous challenges to financing, owning, and growing businesses, including access to capital and technology, lack of networks and knowledge resources, as well as legal, regulatory, and policy obstacles to business ownership and development.
... See More + The Facility will support programs and activities that eliminate barriers that women face in starting and growing successful SMEs in a variety of sectors, and strengthen the enabling environment for such firms. Given the need for aligned public and private sector interventions to address constraints, the Facility would support complementary approaches through two windows (public and private sector). The Facility would not only provide dedicated resources to foster innovation and new approaches to removing these constraints for women entrepreneurs, it will also help elevate the issue to spur action by governments and private sector. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section two provides the background and sector context for the WBG to engage in the Facility. Section three presents the objectives and key features of the Facility. Section four outlines risks identified along with mitigation measures. Section five provides conclusions and recommendations.
See Less -
Do matching frictions affect youth employment in developing countries? This paper studies a randomized controlled trial of job fairs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
... See More + The job fairs match firms with a representative sample of young, educated job-seekers. The meetings at the fairs create very few jobs: one for approximately 10 firms that attended. The paper explores reasons for this, and finds significant evidence for mismatched expectations: about wages, about firms' requirements, and the average quality of job-seekers. There is evidence of learning and updating of beliefs in the aftermath of the fair. This changes behavior: both workers and firms invest more in formal job search after the fairs.
See Less -
Policy Research Working Paper WPS8092 JUN 07, 2017
SME’s form a dominant share of the private sector in developing countries, and account for more than 50 percent of jobs in their respective economies.
... See More + Besides their positive employment effects, the growth and vibrancy of these firms is also important for broader economic growth, diversification of economic base and as a source of innovation that is exhibited by some of the start-ups. Women-owned SMEs are emerging as one of the fast growing segments within the SME sector. Youth play an important role in the creation of new firms and start up activities. Given this importance of SMEs for creation of more, better and inclusive jobs, there is significant focus on understanding the constraints to growth of this sector and implementing programs to address them in the World Bank Group and the other development institutions. Among the several constraints that they face, access to finance is usually cited as the most important and there are several instruments that can be applied to address this constraint. However, what is the evidence of impact of these programs on the employment effects? This note brings together the learnings and evidence from access to finance interventions on employment and provides some recommendations for development practitioners who seek to maximize this objective from their access to finance interventions.
See Less -
This paper examines how the 2008-09 financial crisis affected labor markets in Central and Western Europe, and how this impact depended on employment protections laws.
... See More + Using a differences-in-differences approach that compares industries with varying degrees of inherent dependence on external financing, the analysis finds that the crisis had significant negative impacts on employment, particularly on temporary, less skilled, and younger workers. These impacts on the level and composition of employment were significantly stronger in countries with stronger legal protection of permanent workers from dismissal. This finding suggests that, given regulatory inflexibility in adjusting the permanent workforce, firms responded to tightening financial constraints by disproportionately laying off temporary workers (who tend to be younger and less skilled than permanent workers).
See Less -
Policy Research Working Paper WPS8085 JUN 05, 2017
The concept of empowerment is now widely used in several disciplines to characterize the states and social processes of individuals and communities.
... See More + In economic development, the concept has come to mean women's power and agency in all economic domains and market-related interactions—earning, spending, and saving income; buying, owning, and selling assets; holding and inheriting wealth; starting and operating a business; acquiring a bank account or credit; and participating in or leading a union or other form of economic collective action. Measurement has lagged conceptualization. Most analytical research by economists, primarily involving impact evaluation, has measured empowerment as women's influence over household expenditures. This is a very narrow sliver of empowerment; not surprisingly, it is not well correlated with other economic or social outcomes. This paper suggests measuring empowerment in eight facets (a 4 x 2 matrix): (a) attitudes and (b) behaviors, in the domains of (i) transactions and markets; (ii) social interactions, including mobility and reproductive freedom; (iii) political and civic participation, including exercising legal rights; and (iv) psychology, including self-confidence and ability to seek mental health.
See Less -
Policy Research Working Paper WPS8079 MAY 31, 2017
This issue includes the following headings: Are Active Labor Market Programs Effective in Developing Countries?; Are Automation and Trade Polarizing Developing Country Labor Markets, Too?
... See More + ; How Does Innovation Affect Employment in Developing Countries?; How Is the Internet Reshaping Work?; Big Data from Online Job Portals; The Motherhood Penalty and Female Employment in Urban India; How Some Female Entrepreneurs in Africa Enter Male-Dominated Sectors; Can Wage Subsidies Boost Employment in the Wake of an Economic Crisis?; Understanding the Effects of the World'sLargest Workfare Program; How Do Cities in Ethiopia Create Jobs?; What Is Behind the Decline in Wage Inequality in Latin America?; and Global Talent Flows.
See Less -
Many employers and employees believe that non-cognitive skills are an important contributor to labor market success. This study has assessed the empirical evidence for such a claim in the case of Bangladesh by evaluating unique employer-employee matched labor market data.
... See More + The analysis is based on data collected from 6,981 workers in 500 formal sector firms in Bangladesh's five largest formal economic sectors. Using ordinary least squares and firm fixed-effect models, the study assesses correlations between wages and the so-called "big five" personality traits, and augments the analysis with the latent personality scores captured by the Rasch model. Comparing the ordinary least squares and fixed-effect models reveals statistically significant correlations between personality traits and wages, within and across firms. The results appear to indicate that non-cognitive skills are correlated with a worker's likelihood of achieving success in the labor market. Although many of the findings are consistent with the literature, the analysis reveals specific patterns that appear to be unique to Bangladesh, including a positive correlation between “emotional stability” and wages and a negative correlation between "grit" and wages, especially among manufacturing workers. Differences across firms could indicate that firms that offer higher wages may tend to attract workers with distinct types of non-cognitive skills, whereas differences within firms may indicate that variations in non-cognitive skills are associated with disparities in firm-level wage structures. Correlations between wages and personality traits are more prominent among large firms than among small or medium-sized firms.
See Less -
Policy Research Working Paper WPS8053 MAY 04, 2017
A gap between male and female farmers in agricultural production, both in terms of output and productivity, has been largely documented across Sub-Saharan Africa.
... See More + The Africa Gender Innovation Lab has produced a body of evidence, including the Levelling the Field report and the Cost of the Gender Gap in Agricultural Productivity report, that identified constraints women farmers face, determined the size and cost of the gap in agricultural productivity, and offered promising policy options and emerging new ideas to test. One of the key findings from the levelling the field report is that labor presents the main barrier to achieving gender equality in productivity. Across the six profiled African countries, authors observe a combination of women deploying fewer household male laborers on their plots, male laborers generating lower returns for female farmers relative to male farmers, and female farmers facing challenges in hiring effective outside labor. In this policy brief, we investigate and provide explanations for female farmers’ labor constraints through a mixed-methods study within the cotton sector of Côte d’Ivoire, as part of the Côte d’Ivoire Agriculture Sector Support Project’s efforts to increase female participation in cotton production. We first quantify the gender gap in labor usage, then look at the drivers of this gap and how they constrain women’s cotton production and productivity, and finally offer recommendations for policymakers. Several key policy considerations emerge based on our analysis, relating to labor financing and gender norms. Adopting solutions to ease female farmers’ labor constraints will not only increase their productivity, but also boost economic growth as an increasing share of the population becomes involved in the cultivation of higher-value crops.
See Less -
Ratings for the Programmatic Development Policy Loan Series Project for Ukraine were as follows: outcomes were satisfactory, the risk to development outcome was substantial, the Bank performance was satisfactory, and the Borrower performance was also satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: development partners need to coordinate closely in advancing critical and complementary reforms. Given the urgency of the economic circumstances facing Ukraine, the rapid and coordinated response by the international community was critical to support the Government efforts to stabilize and reform the economy. Strong prior analytical work, technical assistance, and deep engagement between government counterparts and the World Bank team are crucial for the success of an operation. The multisector DPL series prepared an operation with meaningful reforms across multiple sectors within a short timeframe. Technical and policy dialogue between the Bank and the authorities, anchored in previous technical assistance, enabled the swift response in preparing, approving and implementing the DPL program. To support longer-term structural reforms, the World Bank needs a long-term engagement strategy: This DPL series supported a range of deep reforms with gestation periods that extended beyond the two-year horizon of the program. Follow-up monitoring and technical assistance to support the reforms beyond the program period were critical in meeting Ukraine’s development objectives.
See Less -
Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR4070 MAY 01, 2017
