Economists have examined the impact of labor market regulations on the level of employment. However, there are many reasons to suspect that the impact of regulations differs across types of workers. In this paper we take advantage of the unusually large variance in labor policy in Chile to examine how different labor market regulations affect the distribution of employment and the employment rates across age, gender and skill levels. To this effect, we use a sample of repeated cross-section household surveys spanning the period 1960-1998 and measures of the evolution of job security provisions and minimum wages across time. Our results suggest large distribution effects. We find that employment security provisions and minimum wages reduce the share of youth and unskilled employment as well as their employment rates. We also find large effects on the distribution of employment between women and men.
Raising labor productivity is recognized as a critical factor for increasing economic growth and reducing poverty levels in Latin America. Low levels of education continue to be singled out as the main obstacle to higher productivity in the region. We examine the scope for education to lift labor incomes above poverty levels in Latin America and find that in many countries education, by itself, has a positive, but limited, potential to increase wages above a minimum level. In general, the prospects are dim because progress in raising average schooling levels has been slow even under the best historical scenarios. We also examine whether the apparent failure of education can be explained by low wage returns to schooling, and poor underlying conditions. We find that investments in education continue to have important payoffs but poor underlying conditions explain the modest prospect for the role of education in the short run. This leads us to consider what additional policies should be pursued in order to ensure higher productivity for workers in the region.
This paper reviews the regulations governing hiring, firing, overtime work, social security contributions, minimum wages, and collective bargaining in the region, examining their impact on labor market outcomes.
Financial turmoil is becoming a fact of life in Latin America. The 1990s have been characterized by enormous volatility in the magnitude and cost of capital flows. The correlation of capital swings across disparate countries suggests that the quality of emerging market policies in addition to global factors have been the main actors in this drama. Therefore, the blame for financial turmoil has moved away from inappropriate domestic policies. Instead, the paradigm has shifted to one of determining which policies ¾ domestic or international¾ are most effective in taming the destabilizing effects of inherently volatile capital flows.
En esta tercera sección del evento Economía de la Informalidad Conferencia 2020, desarrollado el día 22 de octubre se presentaron los siguientes espacios: Mesa de discusión: Política de formalización del empleo en Colombia (Video 1 - 1:41:49 minutos) con la participación de: Luis Alberto Rodríguez Ospino (Director general, Departamento Nacional de Planeación); Carmen Pagés-Serra (Ex - jefa de la Unidad de Mercados Laborales y Seguridad Social del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo BID); Andrés Felipe Uribe Medina (Viceministro de Empleo y Pensiones, Ministerio del Trabajo); Norman Loayza (Economista Líder en el Grupo de Investigación para el Desarrollo del Banco Mundial); Juan Sebastián Robledo Botero (Director de Innovación y Desarrollo Empresarial, Departamento Nacional de Planeación); Marcela Eslava Mejía (Decana Facultad de Economía, Universidad de los Andes); Cristina Fernández (Investigadora, Fedesarrollo); y con la moderación de Carlos Medina (Gerente de la Sucursal de Medellín, Banco de la República) - Mesa de discusión: Política Industrial y de Desarrollo (video 2 - 1:43:10 minutos) con la participación de Juan Sebastián Robledo Botero (Director de Innovación y Desarrollo Empresarial, Departamento Nacional de Planeación); Marcela Eslava Mejía (Decana Facultad de Economía, Universidad de los Andes); Cristina Fernández (Investigadora, Fedesarrollo) Con la moderación de Carlos Eduardo Sepúlveda Rico (Decano Facultad de Economía, Universidad del Rosario) ; In this third section of the event Economics of Informality Conference 2020, held on October 22, the following contributions were presented: Discussion table: Employment formalization policy in Colombia (Video 1 - 1:41:49 minutes) with the participation of: Luis Alberto Rodríguez Ospino (General Director, National Planning Department); Carmen Pagés-Serra (Former Head of the Labor Markets and Social Security Unit of the Inter-American Development Bank IDB); Andrés Felipe Uribe Medina (Vice Minister of Employment and Pensions, Ministry of Labor); Norman Loayza (Lead Economist in the World Bank's Development Research Group); Juan Sebastián Robledo Botero (Director of Innovation and Business Development, National Planning Department); Marcela Eslava Mejía (Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Universidad de los Andes); Cristina Fernández (Researcher, Fedesarrollo); and with the moderation of Carlos Medina (Manager of the Medellín Branch, Banco de la República) - Discussion table: Industrial and Development Policy (video 2 - 1:43:10 minutes) with the participation of Juan Sebastián Robledo Botero ( Director of Innovation and Business Development, National Planning Department); Marcela Eslava Mejía (Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Universidad de los Andes); Cristina Fernández (Researcher, Fedesarrollo) With the moderation of Carlos Eduardo Sepúlveda Rico (Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Universidad del Rosario)
