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There is a growing body of literature exploring the skill content of jobs. This paper contributes to this research by using data on the task content of occupations in developing countries, instead of U.S. data, as most existing studies do. The paper finds that indexes based on U.S. data do not provide a fair approximation of the levels, changes, and drivers of the routine cognitive and nonroutine manual skill content of jobs in developing countries. The paper also uncovers three new stylized facts. First, while developed countries tend to have jobs more intensive in nonroutine cognitive skills than developing countries, income (in growth and levels) is not associated with the skill content of jobs once the analysis accounts for other factors. Second, although adoption of information and communications technology is linked to job de-routinization, international trade is an offsetting force. Last, adoption of information and communications technology is correlated with lower employment growth in countries with a high share of occupations that are intensive in routine tasks.

Education --- Educational Sciences --- Empirical Model --- Female Labor Force --- Global Value Chains --- Labor Market --- Labor Markets --- Labor Skills --- Rural Development --- Rural Labor Markets --- Social Protections and Labor

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This paper provides a snapshot of Mauritania's labor market using data from the 2004 national household survey. The results show that the labor market is characterized by lower participation rates, lower employment-to-population rates, and relatively higher unemployment rates than in neighboring countries. The non poor fare better in the labor market than the poor. Although the labor force participation of the poor is higher than that of the non poor, the poor display a higher unemployment rate and a lower employment rate than the non poor. The data also suggest a negative correlation between wage employment and poverty. Substantial differences in labor market indicators emerge when disaggregating the analysis by gender and age-group. Female non-participation is extremely high. Women systematically earn less than men independently of their sector and type of employment and controlling for other factors, such as education. Young adults face considerable difficulties in entering the labor market: more than half of the population aged 15-24 is neither studying nor participating in the labor force. As gender disparities remain important for similar levels of education, more work is needed to understand whether cultural factors may prevent women from entering the labor market. Concerning young adults, future poverty reduction strategies need to pay more explicit attention to the promotion of employment through informed labor market policies.

Age group --- Employment --- Household survey --- Informal sector --- Labor --- Labor and Social Protections --- Labor force --- Labor force participation --- Labor market --- Labor market indicators --- Labor market outcomes --- Labor market policies --- Labor Markets --- Labor Policies --- Population --- Population Policies --- Rural Development --- Rural labor --- Rural labor markets --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Unemployment --- Unemployment rate --- Unemployment rates --- Wage determination --- Wage differentials --- Wage employment

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The World Bank in collaboration with the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) conducted an assessment on the constraints and opportunities faced by non-farm household enterprise owners when starting and growing a business. The report highlights the findings from two applied methodologies namely a qualitative toolkit and a quantitative analysis. The toolkit included several qualitative techniques like focus groups, life stories, key informant interviews, and a community mapping exercise administered to 385 individuals from eight communities, among whom about a third were beneficiaries of the countrywide TASASF III - Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN) program. The quantitative data had rich information on 7,400 Tanzanian households and included a specific section on household enterprises. The authors found that the major constraints household enterprise owners face when starting or growing a business are lack of access to financial resources, weak markets and high competition among themselves, and lack of skills. Participants also identified severe weather conditions (droughts and rainy season) as a risk for their businesses and their communities. The report concludes with recommendation for TASAF and the Tanzanian government as they move forward towards the next phase of the PSSN program.

Access to Finance --- Agricultural Productivity --- Employment and Unemployment --- Gender --- Infrastructure --- Job Creation --- Labor Market --- Labor Markets --- Labor Policies --- Poverty Reduction --- Risk --- Rural Development --- Rural Labor Markets --- Social Protections and Assistance --- Social Protections and Labor --- Social Safety Nets --- Weather