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This paper examines whether the increased openness and technological innovation in East Asia have contributed to an increased demand for skills in the region. The author explores a unique firm level data set across eight countries in Asia and the Pacific region. The results strongly support the idea that greater openness and technological innovation have increased the demand for skills, especially in middle-income countries. In particular, while the presence in international markets has been skill enhancing for most middle-income countries, this is not the case for manufacturing firms operating in China and in low-income countries. The author interprets this to support the premise that if international integration in the region continues to intensify and technology continues to be skilled biased, policies aimed at mitigating the skills shortages should produce continual and persistent increase in skills.

E-Business --- Emerging Markets --- Employee --- Employment --- Firm level --- Foreign ownership --- Income inequality --- Industry --- International markets --- Job vacancies --- Labor Markets --- Labor markets --- Labor Policies --- Labor supply --- Occupational classification --- Private Sector Development --- Skill shortages --- Skill upgrading --- Skilled labor --- Skilled workers --- Social Protections and Labor --- Technology Industry --- Total employment --- Unskilled labor --- Unskilled workers --- Wage premium --- Wage premiums --- Worker

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This paper focuses on the estimation of skill/industry premiums and labor force composition at the national and sector levels in seven East Asian countries with the objective of providing a comprehensive analysis of trends in demand for skills in the region. The paper addresses the following questions: Are there converging or diverging trends in the region regarding the evolution of skill premiums and labor force composition? Are changes in skill premiums generalized or industry-related? How have industry premiums evolved? The analysis uses labor and household surveys going back at least 10 years. The main trends emerging from the analysis are: (a) increasing proportions of skilled/educated workers over the long run across the region; (b) generally increasing demand for skills in the region; (c) the service sector has become the most important driver of demand for skills for all countries (except Thailand); (d) countries can be broadly categorized into three groups in relation to trends and patterns of demand for skills (Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand; Vietnam and China; and Cambodia and Mongolia); and (e) industry premiums have increased in three countries of the region (Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia). These trends point to several policy implications, including that governments should focus on policies promoting access to education to address the increasing demand for skills and/or persistent skill shortages; support general rather than specific curricula given broad-based increases in skill premiums in most countries; better tailor curriculum design and content and pedagogical approaches to the needs of the service sector; and target some social protection programs to unskilled workers to protect them from the "unequalizing" impact of education.

Drivers --- Education --- Education For All --- Household surveys --- Income inequalities --- Jobs --- Labor demand --- Labor force --- Labor market --- Labor market segmentation --- Labor Markets --- Labor reallocation --- Productivity growth --- Secondary Education --- Service sector --- Skill premiums --- Skill shortages --- Skill upgrading --- Skill-biased technologies --- Skilled labor --- Social Protections and Labor --- Tertiary Education --- Unskilled workers --- Wage premiums --- Water and Industry --- Water Resources --- Workers

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This paper analyzes the poverty and inequality implications of removing agricultural and non-agricultural price distortions in the domestic market of the Philippines and abroad. Liberalization in the rest of the world is poverty and inequality reducing, whereas full domestic liberalization increases national poverty and inequality. Poverty declines while inequality increases marginally in the combined scenario of both global and domestic agriculture reform. Although the reduction in the national poverty headcount is small in the latter scenario, the poorest of the poor, particularly those living in the rural areas, emerge as 'winners', given their strong reliance on agricultural production and unskilled labor wages.

Agricultural Sector Economics --- Agricultural Trade --- Agriculture --- Animal Feed --- Beef --- Commodity Prices --- Consumers --- Corn --- Developing Countries --- Economic Policy --- Food Consumption --- Food Processing --- Gdp --- Grains --- Gross Domestic Product --- Income Tax --- Inequality --- Information Technology --- International Food Policy Research Institute --- Labor Market --- Meat --- Milling Industry --- Political Economy --- Poverty and Trade --- Poverty Reduction --- Savings --- Skilled Workers --- Sugar --- Trade Liberalization --- Trade Policy --- Trade Protection --- Unemployment --- Unskilled Workers --- Wages --- World Trade Organization

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This note presents and analyzes the main design features of an inventory of non-publicly provided Active Labor Market Programs (ALMPs) in Arab-Mediterranean Countries (AMCs), with a specific focus on programs targeted at youth. Despite considerable international evidence, there is little systematic analysis on the effectiveness of ALMPs in AMCs as most programs and investments remain largely un-assessed. Since most AMCs lack unemployment insurance systems or other safety nets for the unemployed, ALMPs constitute a relevant instrument to address the consequences of labor market frictions, such as high unemployment and slow school-to-work transition. Programs from nine countries are included in the inventory: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen. Benchmarked against international best practices, assessment of the programs covered in the inventory reveals that the majority lack the necessary mix of design features that make programs effective. These findings call for urgent reforms in program design and delivery, especially given the sizeable financial investments in programs and the urgency to improve labor market outcomes among youth. This policy note constitutes a first step towards understanding and assessing provision of ALMPs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and intends to provide policy makers and financiers with options for reform to enhance efficiency of existing programs and improve the design of future interventions. In addition to specific aspects of program design and implementation, stakeholder coordination needs to be strengthened and put at the forefront of ALMP reform.

Access to Information --- Accounting --- Curriculum --- Data Quality --- Decision Making --- Disadvantaged Groups --- Education --- Education For All --- Educational Attainment --- Employment Opportunities --- Employment Rates --- Employment Services --- Human Capital --- Innovation --- Job Creation --- Job Search Assistance --- Labor Markets --- Labor Policies --- Labor Regulation --- Layoffs --- Leadership --- Literacy --- Market Economy --- Occupations --- On-the-Job Training --- Participation Rates --- Poverty Impact Evaluation --- Poverty Reduction --- Primary Education --- Private Sector --- Productivity --- Schools --- Small Businesses --- Social Protections and Labor --- Teachers --- Unemployment --- Unskilled Workers --- Workers --- Working Hours

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The Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations stalled in 2008 owing in no small degree to a lack of agreement on the terms of substantially reducing trade-distorting support for agricultural products and to what extent this will be beneficial to developing countries. Nicaragua presents an interesting case in point, being one of the poorest economies in Latin America with still a relatively large agricultural sector and high degrees of rural poverty. In 2005, the country signed a free trade agreement with the United States. This chapter provides a quantitative analysis addressing that question. It does so using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for Nicaragua coupled with a micro-simulation methodology. The first section provides background information on trade reform policies and macroeconomic trends in Nicaragua, with special reference to the agricultural sector and rural poverty. The section that follows describes the main features of the CGE model and the micro-simulation methodology used to assess the impact on poverty and inequality. The author then lay out the model scenarios considered, which include liberalizations of agricultural and all merchandise goods trade by the rest of the world and by Nicaragua itself. That is followed by a summary analysis of results. This analysis includes tests for the sensitivity of the results with respect to assumptions regarding the responsiveness of trade to price liberalization, as identified through the relevant trade elasticities. The final section provides conclusions and possible policy implications.

Agriculture --- Capital Flows --- Civil War --- Commodity Prices --- Consumers --- Customs Procedures --- Demographic Change --- Developing Countries --- Development Policy --- Economic theory & Research --- Exporters --- Financial Institutions --- Foreign Direct Investment --- Gdp --- Gross Domestic Product --- Human Capital --- Inequality --- Living Standards --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Monopolies --- Per Capita Income --- Poverty Reduction --- Private Investment --- Productivity --- Safeguard Measures --- Savings --- Skilled Workers --- Total Factor Productivity --- Trade Barriers --- Trade Liberalization --- Trade Policy --- Trade Preferences --- Trade Protection --- Trade Reform --- Unemployment --- Unskilled Workers --- Wages --- World Development Indicators