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Labor laws and legislation --- United States. --- Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (United States)

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Labor regulations are important determinants of resource allocation, productivity, and labor market outcomes. They can protect workers' rights, enhance job security, and improve working conditions. However, overly restrictive regulations can also increase business costs, becoming barriers to creating formal employment, particularly for vulnerable workers. This paper analyzes the key characteristics of labor market regulations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and benchmarks them against international practices. The main objective is to identify strengths and weaknesses in the regulations and to inform governments about policy options to enhance employment outcomes in the region. The paper focuses on labor laws and regulations concerning hiring, working hours, minimum wage, redundancy rules and cost, unemployment insurance, labor tax and social security contributions, and legal frameworks affecting women's work. This paper finds that the region has generally flexibly hiring rules, but that redundancy regulations are relatively rigid and costly compared to international practices. Statutory minimum wages and labor taxes are not very high, with the exception of a few countries. Although many countries have made efforts to remove legal barriers for women workers, discriminatory laws still restrict their participation in the labor market. While labor market regulations vary by country, the findings suggest areas where there is clear scope to improve the design and implementation of labor market regulations to facilitate stronger formal labor demand and to enhance efficient resource allocation; and at the same time, to strengthen compliance to provide necessary protections to workers.

Labor Law --- Labor Market --- Labor Policy --- Labor Regulation --- Labor Standards --- Social Protections and Labor --- Wages

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Wages --- Hours of labor --- Minimum wage --- Law and legislation --- United States. --- Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (United States)

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Across the world, governments use minimum wages, employment protection legislation, and other labor regulations that define the legal boundaries of employment to manage potential labor market imperfections. These imperfections include information asymmetry, uneven market power between employers and employees, discrimination by employers, and incomplete markets for unemployment insurance and insurance for other work-related risks. Labor regulations are also widely used to further other objectives, most notably the distribution of wealth among the population. Labor regulations can have a wide range of impacts on the employment and earnings of workers and the productivity and profits of firms. While these regulations have become common currency in most countries, many economists believe that over-regulation of labor markets can have detrimental consequences. In fact, until relatively recently, most economists were skeptical that labor regulations could have any positive impacts on either workers or firms. In recent years, a more nuanced view has emerged that argues that both over-regulation and under-regulation can constrain job creation and have other negative impacts, including exacerbating inequalities in the labor market. The proponents of this view assert that over-regulation can reduce labor market flexibility, while under-regulation can leave workers unprotected by not correcting for labor market imperfections. In practice, striking the right balance between workers' protection and market flexibility is not easy. From a political economy point of view, different groups with special interests lobby vigorously either for further protection or further flexibility. As a result, minimum wages and employment protection legislation are often highly politicized issues. However, even from a technical point of view, it is not easy to draw unequivocal conclusions about the impact of labor regulations on employment levels, earnings, job turnover, productivity, and other outcomes because of the ambiguity of theoretical models and the scarcity of empirical evidence on the causal impacts of labor regulations. Empirical evidence is even scarcer for developing and emerging economies than for developed countries.

Labor Law --- Labor Markets --- Labor Policy --- Labor Regulation --- Labor Standards --- Minimum Wage --- Poverty --- Social Protections and Labor

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For the last 50 years, the Turkish Cypriot community (TCc) has remained outside the effective control of the government of the Republic of Cyprus (RoC). The community displays typical characteristics and challenges of a small island economy, and after years of rapid growth and income convergence, it is unlikely to replicate its pre-2009 economic performance in the medium term. Sound macroeconomic policies and structural reforms, thus, become all the more crucial if the community is to regain the growth momentum of the early-2000s and address some of the labor market issues. Structural reforms should, among other things, aim to remove barriers to an expanding private sector, and strengthen domestic and external market competitiveness. To do this, the Turkish Cypriot community needs to better align its workforce and Workforce Development (WfD) policies to the needs of the labor market and of the private sector in particular.This study aims to assess the TCc's overall WfD system. Where shortcomings are identified, the study offers suggestions on how to improve the quality and relevance of the skills produced by the community's workforce system, including Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) at the secondary and postsecondary level, and on-the-job learning. This report presents a comprehensive diagnostic of a WfD system's policies and institutions.

Education --- Employment --- Labor Markets --- Labor Standards --- Rural Development --- Rural Development Strategy & Policy --- Rural Labor Markets --- Social Protections and Labor