This report examines unemployment protection with emphasis on three groups of countries: 1) OECD, 2) Central-East Europe and the Former Soviet Union; and 3) East and South Asia. Section 1 notes the presence of various public social protection programs including pensions, work injury insurance,...

This paper focuses on the role the of social programs in economic restructuring. Restructuring often results in significant downsizing of labor. When this occurs a negative social reaction can slow and/or stall restructuring. This is increasingly recognized by development agencies, governments,...

This document outlines various available and emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) and provides a framework to assess how these technologies may be used to improve the efficiency of the delivery of safety net programs. These technologies include: mobile computing,...

Zambia is a county characterized by a high incidence of poverty and exposure to several types of shocks like HIV/AIDS, macroeconomic instability and periodic droughts. In this paper the authors conduct an in depth analysis of the incidence and impact of those shocks on poverty. The analysis of...

This paper develops and discusses a Proxy Means Test (PMT) based household targeting system for Bangladesh. The PMT model derived from household survey data includes observable and verifiable characteristics on: (i) household demographics and characteristics of household head; (ii) ownership of...

This paper studies the link between labor market regulations and the incentives of firms to invest in the human capital of their employees. The author's explore a firm level data set across several developing countries and comparethe supply of formal training programs for firms exposed to...

One of the most conspicuous consequences of the transition of former socialist economies has been the emergence of large-scale, open unemployment - a phenomenon unheard of before the transition. These economies have thus been confronted with the difficult task of protecting the unemployed while...

This"toolkit"provides quantitative tools to practitioners who want to undertake risk and vulnerability assessments using household data. While one could use price, exchange rate, and balance of payments data to examine macroeconomic shocks, and rainfall data to assess the severity of droughts...

This paper looks at the experiences of various Asian countries in expanding the coverage of the pension system to informal sector workers. The paper argues that given aging and growing informality, a rapid forward-looking response from governments in the region is necessary to provide protection...

This is a review of research on child labor in Sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses on child labor taking place in the household, and controlled by relatives of the children, since this is the most extensive form of child labor in African countries. It is also the form of child labor that is the most...