Documents Saget, Catherine 11 results

"The “Inventory of labour market policy measures in the EU 2008-13: The crisis and beyond” report studies the way in which the labour market policies of Member States of the European Union evolved after the financial crisis of 2007/08, and the extent to which those policies were successful in mitigating the negative impact the crisis had on their labour markets.

Policy-makers reacted quickly to the crisis, with a balanced approach with respect to the main beneficiaries of those policy efforts. While a significant share of policies enhanced the rights of workers and increased the support offered to jobseekers, there was also significant effort dedicated to policy measures in which firms were the main beneficiary. After peaking in 2009/2010, however, these policy efforts decreased significantly thereafter.

Most of the attention of policy-makers went towards structural labour market reforms, together with interventions changing ALMP or wage rules, including collective bargaining.

The report highlights the need for constant and continuous dedication to the improvement of the resilience of labour market by policy-makers, even if this requires higher levels of public expenditure in the short term. A combination of policy measures which provide employers with enough flexibility to adjust their demand for labour together with interventions that improve working conditions and increase the support given to jobseekers will provide the only path for policy-makers across the EU to enable labour markets to recover from their current sluggish state and resume a pattern of sustainable employment growth and improving working conditions."

"In 2009, the global economy experienced a 0.5 per cent contraction, following a modest 3 per cent growth in 2008. The recession was of an unprecedented scale in the post Second World War era and severely hit advanced economies, whose output declined by 3.4 per cent in 2009, while growth halved in emerging and developing countries. In terms of impact on jobs and living standards, the developed world accounted for most of the increase in global unemployment with youth bearing the brunt of the crisis impact.

Whereas, the effects on the developing world are particularly evident in social indicators such as poverty, the working poor and vulnerable employment."

"This paper seeks to identify trends in rights at work during the global financial and economic crisis that began in 2008, in terms of international labour standards. Its primary sources of information use recent observations of the International Labour Organisation's Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) relating to the crisis, as well as data collected in the ILO/World Bank inventory standardized questionnaire of policy responses to the crisis on a sample of 50 countries covering the period mid-2008 - mid-2010."

"Youth labour market disadvantage is not confined to high youth unemployment. In south-east Europe, it includes widespread underemployment, unprotected informal employment and discouragement – in addition to an average youth unemployment rate 2.5 times higher than that of the European Union. In young people?s experience, these disadvantages can be compounded by others, more generic, such as ethnicity, sex, educational level and social background. Using a range of measures, the authors explore the nature, causes and consequences of youth labour market disadvantage, concluding with an outline of the preventive and remedial labour market programmes that would be needed to complement employment-oriented macroeconomic policies."

"La mauvaise position des jeunes sur le marché du travail ne se limite pas au seul chômage. En Europe du Sud-Est, en plus de connaître un taux de chômage deux fois plus élevé que dans l'Union européenne, les jeunes sont massivement sous-employés, engagés dans des emplois informels sans protection ou découragés de chercher du travail. Ces situations peuvent être aggravées par des facteurs comme l'appartenance ethnique, le sexe ou l'origine sociale. Partant des données chiffrées, les auteurs analysent la nature, les causes et les conséquences des désavantages dont souffrent les jeunes et concluent en traçant les contours des mesures préventives et correctrices à prendre sur le marché du travail, en complément de politiques macroéconomiques créatrices d'emplois."(Résumé des auteurs)

"Some developing countries have set their minimum wages too high or too low to constitute a meaningful constraint on employers. The article compares minimum wages worldwide, proposes several ways of measuring them in developing countries and discusses whether they are effective thresholds in those countries. The second part of the article considers the institutional factors leading countries to set minimum wages at extreme levels. The author concludes that the minimum wage is used as a policy instrument to several ends - wage negotiation, deflation and social dialogue - which results in the absence of a wage floor, weak collective bargaining, or non-compliance."

"The minimum wage is an economic and social policy tool that is both powerful and flexible. Drawing on a comprehensive database of the principal legal provisions and minimum-wage fixing mechanisms in 100 countries, this book sheds light on its intricacies by providing a thorough overview of the institutions and practices worldwide. It outlines the main topics for debate concerning the effects of minimum wages on major social and economic variables such as employment, wage inequality, and poverty. The book considers the various procedures countries use for implementation, including the criteria employed to fix the minimum wage, and how they are linked to specific country objectives. It then measures its efficiency, and focuses on the impact of the minimum wage on employment as a major political issue. This new volume also looks at the relationship between the minimum wage and poverty, and considers two rarely studied issues: which wage earners are excluded from the scope of the main legislative texts, and what causes non-application of the legislation?"

"The phenomenon of heat stress refers to heat received in excess of that which the body can tolerate without physiological impairment. It is one of the major consequences of global warming. By 2030, the equivalent of more than 2 per cent of total working hours worldwide is projected to be lost every year, either because it is too hot to work or because workers have to work at a slower pace. This report shows the impact of heat stress on productivity and decent work for virtually all countries in the world. It presents innovative solutions based on social dialogue to promote occupational safety and health for the most vulnerable groups of workers."