Brazil : Jobs Report, Volume 1. Policy Briefing

[摘要] This report, conducted jointly byresearchers in Brazil and at the World Bank, aims to addressthe debate on how the Brazilian labor market functions. Itdoes so not by focusing on labor market functioning but onits outcomes. What is central are labor market outcomes,such as adequate employment growth so that job-seekers canfind gainful employment, acceptable worker productivitylevels that are fairly compensated, and reasonable incomesecurity for workers and their households. This report isstructured as follows: Chapter 1 argues that labor laws havebegun to show signs of obsolescence. Chapter 2 shows this isreflected in deteriorating outcomes. Keyindicators--employment growth, labor force participation,unemployment rates, and income security--all point toworsening labor market functioning since the mid-1990s. Thereport then examines how changed macroeconomic circumstancescall for changes in labor market institutions, regulations,and interventions. Using a characterization of the economyin which informality has a central role, Chapter 3illustrates the correspondence between the three mainmacroeconomic phenomena of the 1990s--greater openness,stabilization, and fiscal adjustment--and Brazil'slabor market priorities. Chapter 4 concludes that the labormarket has signaled the shortage of educated workers sincethe 1990s, and the onus is now on the education and trainingsystems to respond. Analysis of how Brazil's labormarket functions in Chapter 5 points to evidence thatindicates that Brazil's poorer workers and smallerfirms are especially disadvantaged by how the labor marketfunctions. The report identifies three sets of prioritiesfor reform: changes in mandated non-wage benefits andminimum wage setting to price labor correctly and encourageempoloyment growth (Chapter 6), changes in severancelegislation and functioning of labor courts to better alignincentives and increase productivity (Chapter 7), andimprovements in interventions to increase income securityfor all workers (Chapter 8). Chapter 9 summarizes andhighlights the main policy implications. Volume 2 containsin-depth examination of the issues of interest in Brazil andthe relevant international experience, on which Chapters 1through 8 of the first volume are based.

[发布日期] 2002-12-20 [发布机构] Washington, DC

[学科分类] 社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

[关键词] GOVERNMENT ROLE;LABOR MARKET CHARACTERISTICS;REGULATORY FRAMEWORK;LABOR PRODUCTIVITY;MARKET REFORMS