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Jordan faces extremely high levels of youth unemployment: 19 percent of male and 48 percent of female youth between the ages of 19 to 24 years old want to work but can't find jobs. For men, the transition from school to work is slow (on average 15 months), but for women the school to work transition often never takes place. In this context of high female unemployment and low female labor force participation, the Jordanian government, requested the World Bank's support to develop an employment pilot targeting female community college graduates in 2009. This pilot is part of a broader technical assistance program supporting the reform of the public community college system in Jordan. The objective of the Jordan New work Opportunities for Women (NOW) pilot was to increase female labor force participation and help women gain real world job experience. In particular, the hope was to improve information between firms and potential workers, create an opportunity to change negative stereotypes from firms and young women about women's role in the labor market, and improve soft skills and communication. Overall, the objectives of the Jordan NOW pilot were to increase labor force participation and to give young female graduates a chance to accrue some work experience.

Access to Law and Justice --- Business Development --- Chambers of Commerce --- Child Care --- Collateral --- Curriculum --- Developing Countries --- Disadvantaged Groups --- Economic Opportunities --- Education --- Education For All --- Educational Attainment --- Employment --- Employment Opportunities --- Employment Rates --- Empowerment --- Fact Sheets --- Gender --- Gender and Economic Policy --- Higher Education --- Household Surveys --- Improving Labor Markets --- Information Technology --- International Cooperation --- Job Creation --- Labor Markets --- Labor Policies --- Minimum Wage --- Nurses --- Occupations --- Other Social Development --- Pregnancy --- Private Sector --- Rule of Law --- Schools --- Self-Confidence --- Skills Development and Labor Force Training --- Social Dev/Gender/Inclusion --- Social Norms --- Social Protection and Risk Management --- Social Protections and Labor --- Teachers --- Technical Assistance --- Unemployment --- Universities --- Workers --- Youth

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This study analyzes labor market performance in the Philippines from the perspective of workers' welfare. It argues that pervasive in-work poverty is the main challenge facing labor policy. Poverty is primarily due to low earning capacity of the poor and to their limited access to regular and productive jobs. Behind these are the two interrelated root causes of in-work poverty - low education of the poor, and the scarcity of productive job opportunities. The labor market is segmented into good and bad jobs, with the poor working in the latter. They hold jobs that are informal, temporary or casual, and low-paid. Widespread informality means that the poor neither benefit from the minimum wage policy nor from employment protection legislation. They do not benefit from wage growth either, because their bargaining power is weak. Good jobs are so few, especially in rural areas, that even better educated workers are often forced to take unskilled jobs and work as low-paid laborers. The reduction of in-work poverty hinges on removing constraints to gainful employment in both supply side (better education and skills) and demand side (better jobs). It is critical that the young poor have improved access to quality education, and be equipped with skills required in the modern sector of the economy. But in parallel, better jobs need to be created, which can be attained from the growth of the formal and higher value added sector of the economy. The process of structural transformation should be supported by effective labor policy. Labor regulations need to be made simpler and more flexible to facilitate the reallocation of labor from less to more productive activities, and from informal to formal sector. Targeted training programs have the potential to address the problem of low skills among the poor workers, especially the young ones. Such programs should be developed on a pilot basis and expanded if proven to be cost-effective.

Disadvantaged Groups --- Educational Attainment --- Employment --- Employment Opportunities --- Employment Protection Legislation --- Employment Rates --- Employment Services --- Household Income --- Human Capital --- Improving Labor Markets --- Income Distribution --- Income Inequality --- Informal Sector --- Job Creation --- Job Search Assistance --- Labor Costs --- Labor Markets --- Labor Mobility --- Labor Policies --- Labor Policy --- Labor Standards --- Management --- Occupations --- Older Workers --- On-the-Job Training --- Poverty Reduction --- Primary Education --- Private Sector --- Retirement --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Skilled Workers --- Social Protection and Risk Management --- Social Protections and Labor --- Unemployment --- Unskilled Workers --- Work & Working Conditions --- Workers --- Working Poor --- Younger Workers