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This note provides a brief, updated analysis of jobs dynamics in Albania, providing insights into where constraints to improving jobs outcomes remain and opportunities for addressing such challenges. Results-based policy making requires timely information to identify problems, design potential solutions, and evaluate policy initiatives. Using the most recent data available on Albanian labor markets from the perspectives of labor demand (firms) and labor supply (individuals), this note provides some key insights into the current situation and important dynamics over time and across firms and workers with different characteristics. The note is complemented by two other reports that look at (i) skills development challenges from the demand (employer) side, and (ii) the role and effectiveness of the National Employment Service (NES) in reducing unemployment. This note and the aforementioned reports will serve as inputs to a jobs framework and action plan for the Republic of Albania. This note is divided into three additional sections. Following the introduction, the second section provides a profile of labor demand in Albania, looking primarily at job creation and job productivity. The third section presents a profile of labor supply, specifically who is working, what types of jobs they are employed in, and who is not working. The final section concludes with an overall brief summary of the analysis and questions to further guide the development of a jobs action plan.

Employment and Unemployment --- Gender --- Job Creation --- Labor Market --- Labor Markets --- Social Protections and Labor

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The economy of the Democratic Republic of Congo is not creating sufficient jobs for its young and rapidly growing workforce. Although the Congolese economy has experienced fast growth and poverty has declined, further reducing poverty will require more dynamic job creation and continued reductions in fertility rates. The current youth bulge and potential demographic dividend will open a unique window of opportunity but will demand faster job creation. The challenge is not limited to reducing unemployment, but includes tackling inactivity and rampant underemployment. Possible avenues to address labor market shortcomings include removing obstacles and resolving market failures for firms to grow, integrating agribusinesses into value chains, facilitating urbanization, and focusing on skills, not just schooling. At the same time, a focus on productivity growth could strengthen its link to employment creation. The report, Democratic Republic of Congo: jobs diagnostic, analyzes the main challenges - at the macro, firm, and household levels - that the country faces in creating jobs. It also outlines the main obstacles to creating more and better jobs that are more inclusive of women and youth.

Economic Growth --- Employment and Unemployment --- Labor Markets --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Poverty Reduction --- Social Protections and Labor

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Indonesia needs more jobs. While 2.1 million jobs have been created on average over the past three years, the 20 percent youth unemployment rate, four times higher than the adult unemployment rate, combined with the growth of the country's labor force, emphasizes the importance of greater job creation (Sakernas, 2017). Indonesia's productive age population is now growing. Current changes in the demographic structure will provide Indonesia with a window of opportunity to achieve a demographic bonus during 2020-2030. However, to enjoy optimum benefits, the country's human resources must able to meet the requirements of the labor market. Therefore, mastery of the skills needed by the labor market, particularly regarding technological and entrepreneurial skills, is critical. (LD FEUI, 2017). It is important to continuously improve both the quantity and quality of jobs created. Employment in Indonesia has been dominated by low productivity sectors, of which 30 percent is employed in the agricultural sector (Sakernas, 2017). Output per agricultural worker is equivalent to only 1/3 of the processing industry sector and 1/2 of the service sector's output. New job creation has generally taken place in such low productivity sectors, with 65 percent of all new job creation between 2011-2016 taking place in the agricultural, trade and low-end service sectors. The current composition of the labor market has moreover given rise to a division between formal and informal sectors, between skilled and unskilled workers, and between contracted and non-contracted workers. 58 percent of all workers, including employees as well as freelancers, are not covered by employment contracts, meaning that they are more vulnerable to shocks and receive less protection.

Employment and Unemployment --- Labor Market --- Labor Policy --- Minimum Wage --- Social Protections and Labor --- Work and Working Conditions

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This guide aims to provide general guidance to project managers and project teams on the design and implementation of integrated, cross-sectoral youth employment programs.The aim of the integrated programs described in this guide is to bring together supply- and demand side interventions to simultaneously address three interrelated objectives:Promote job creation for the target population; Improve the quality of jobs young people already have, many of which are in the informal sector; and Help prepare young job seekers for jobs or to move from low- to higher-quality jobs.This guide has been developed by a team drawn from multiple World Bank Global Practices and is based on evidence, experience, and lessons learned from a variety of sources.This guide attempts to present a broad framework to help project teams explicitly link supply- and demand-side considerations in the context of an integrated youth operation: Section one briefly introduces the conceptual framework guiding project design, the type of diagnostic work needed, and the diagnostic models and tools that can be used. Some of these tools are generic, but can be adapted to look more deeply at youth employment issues; Section two discusses how teams could improve the design of supply-side interventions. Reviews of successful youth employment programs suggest they have certain characteristics in common: they offer a diversified package of interventions that address the constraints of a heterogeneous group of beneficiaries; include good identification, profiling, and follow-up systems; and rely on appropriate contracting and payment systems for providers and strong engagement with the private sector; Section three presents practical suggestions to improve the design of a youth employment program on the demand side. The evidence on what works in fostering more and better job creation at the firm level is not as robust as for the supply side. Nonetheless, there are interventions that can be adapted to stimulate job creation and/or labor productivity growth at the firm level with a focus on youth.; Section four describes how teams might develop a fully integrated program/project. In most cases, project managers might need to begin with designing either a supply- or demand-side intervention and then try to integrate or connect it with one or more interventions aimed from the other side. In other cases, the project team may be able to design a fully integrated program from the start. Such integrated approaches are new and require systematic testing, experimentation, and piloting to fine-tune design elements. The guide is supplemented by ten annexes which summarize useful tools and techniques that can be adapted to the youth employment context.

Employment and Unemployment --- Job Creation --- Labor Markets --- Labor Policies --- Rural Development --- Rural Labor Markets --- Social Protections and Labor

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Paraguay has achieved positive employment outcomes over the last decade, reflecting more jobs and improved average job quality, which together contributed to significant poverty reduction. Firms played a major role in creating these jobs, especially formal jobs. It is important to understand how firm performance has translated into employment, the nature of the resulting jobs, and the factors affecting these outcomes. Using firm-level datasets, this analysis explores the characteristics of firms that are growing or stagnating; the sectors into which new firms are entering or incumbent firms are expanding their operations; and the factors that may be helping or hindering firms to enter, expand, or increase their productivity. High rates of informality and evasion create a challenging private sector environment for firms, but even among formal firms, the prevailing structure is characterized by micro-firms that lack scale economies, are concentrated in non-tradables, have generally low productivity levels, and rely on unskilled employment. The analysis also finds a pervasive duality between micro-sized low-productivity firms on one end, and a small number of highly productive firms in concentrated markets on the other end. These results imply some important challenges for the continued development of a healthy, dynamic and inclusive private sector.

Employment and unemployment --- Labor market --- Labor markets --- Private sector development --- Private sector economics --- Productivity --- Social protections and labor --- Wages