Indonesia has been an independent nation for only 70 years, yet it has already reached middle-income status and aims to reach high-income status by 2045. While high levels of economic growth have facilitated impressive development, key gaps have emerged in human capital. To address these gaps,...

Human capital development is at the top of Indonesia's economic development agenda. The National Long-Term Development Plan (RPJPN 2005-2025) identifies human resource development as one of the key drivers of the eight national development goals to be achieved by 2025. As part of this push, the...

Building back better' has become a popular theme guiding the world's post-Covid19 recovery efforts; in few middle-income countries this appears to be more pressing than in Guatemala. Over a decade of lackluster growth and stagnating productivity improvements have led to an acute shortage of...

Pension funds in some economies are used as a captive audience to channel capital at below market rates to government. This policy is only one tool in the financial repression toolkit, but it is receiving increased attention as governments around the world struggle to increase fiscal space and...

Lao PDR is currently facing the phenomenon of jobless growth. This trend started in the early 2010s when non-farm job creation stagnated despite rapid growth in gross domestic product (GDP). The labor market suffered from weak activity in the private sector, with all sectors apart from...

After years of conflict, there is an opportunity for peace in South Sudan, but an effective economic recovery process must underpin the political settlement. The aim of this work is to inform policy for more productive urban jobs in peacebuilding and recovery in South Sudan and for first steps...

While the Brazilian social protection system provides instruments to reduce the risk of destitution from old age and disability with broad coverage, protection against labor income shocks in Brazil remains segmented and largely depends on labor status and household composition. In 2019, nearly...

Disability-inclusive development directly responds to the World Bank's twin goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. Disability and poverty are inherently linked, with persons with disabilities having poorer health outcomes; lower education achievements; less economic...

The Philippines increasingly emphasizes lifelong learning and skills mobility for labor productivity as an integral part of the country's growth strategy. The Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 presents a series of activities to improve labor productivity through human capital investment....

Despite being an upper middle income country, South Africa's high inequality and the long-lasting legacies of apartheid mean that the country is faced with numerous development challenges, many of which are characteristic of countries with much lower incomes. This paper focuses on social...