"The author analyzes regional labor market disparities in transition by presenting some data and summarizing existing literature. He finds that large and persistent regional labor market disparities developed in virtually all transition countries and that there is some evidence of polarization. Differences in starting conditions and market access seem to be the major reasons for regional divergence in transition. Furthermore, regional wages are only slightly more flexible than in many European Union labor markets, interregional migration is low, and capital seems to move toward high wage and low unemployment urban centers rather than to the most backward regions. Policy should thus take a long-run perspective on the existing regional disparities, focus on removing barriers to mobility, review existing institutions for implementing regional policy, and aim at a close coordination of regional and labor market policy instruments. "--World Bank web site.

"The paper reviews labor market developments in the transition economies of Europe and Central Asia. It argues that the scarcity of productive job opportunities and the growing labor market segmentation are the two main labor market problems facing the transition economies. In the European transition economies the lack of jobs has led to persistent open unemployment. In the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) it has led to hidden unemployment (underemployment and low productivity employment). Unemployment in the European transition economies is supported by the developed social safety net. In contrast, in the CIS for most workers unemployment is not an affordable option. They either stick to their old, unproductive jobs in unrestructured enterprises, or work in the informal sector, or resort to subsistence agriculture. Thus, underemployment in the CIS is a mirror image of unemployment in the European transition economies. Accordingly, the high employment-to-population ratios in many CIS countries do not necessarily signify favorable labor market performance. Instead they often indicate delayed enterprise restructuring, the maintenance of unsustainable jobs in uncompetitive firms, and the existence of a large informal sector as an employer of last resort. Labor market segmentation has been caused by a sharp increase in earnings differentials and the attendant increase in the incidence of low-paid jobs, by the polarization of regional labor market conditions, and finally by the growth of the informal sector offering casual, low-productivity jobs. Labor market segmentation and accompanying inequalities are more pronounced in the CIS than in the European transition economies. "--World Bank web site.

This book discusses the question of how a regional economy can develop under the influence of an ageing and declining population, and how regional development policies can help make labor markets more resilient and more inclusive. As the greatest impacts of demographic change and policy and fiscal challenges can be observed at the local level, examples from European, North American and Asian regions are combined to present a comprehensive, global range of strategic solutions from different policy contexts. The book shows how institutions, organizations and communities can enhance their pathways for sustainable development through the intelligent management of their demographic transition, and offers a synthesis of valuable lessons and strategies.

This book focuses on the questions of how territorial differences in productivity levels and unemployment rates arise in the first place and why territorial differences in labor market performance persist over time. Unemployment divergence and unemployment club convergence have been touched on in a large number of works and have recently also been studied using spatial econometric analysis. In this book we aim to develop the debate to include several important new topics, such as: the reasons why structural changes in some sectors cause slumps in some regions but not in others; the extent to which agglomeration factors explain regional imbalances; the degree of convergence / divergence across EU countries and regions; the role of labor mobility in reducing / increasing regional labor market imbalances; the impact of EU and country-level regional policy in stimulating convergence and the (unsatisfactory) role of active labor market policy in stimulating labor supply in the weakest economic areas.

Floro Ernesto Caroleo and Francesco Pastore This book was conceived to collect selected essays presented at the session on “The Labour Market Impact of the European Union Enlargements. A New Regional Geography of Europe?” of the XXII Conference of the Italian Association of Labour Economics (AIEL). The session aimed to stimulate the debate on the continuity/ fracture of regional patterns of development and employment in old and new European Union (EU) regions. In particular, we asked whether, and how different, the causes of emergence and the evolution of regional imbalances in the new EU members of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are compared to those in the old EU members. Several contributions in this book suggest that a factor common to all backward regions, often neglected in the literature, is to be found in their higher than average degree of structural change or, more precisely, in the hardship they expe- ence in coping with the process of structural change typical of all advanced economies. In the new EU members of CEE, structural change is still a consequence of the continuing process of transition from central planning to a market economy, but also of what Fabrizio et al. (2009) call the “second transition”, namely that related to the run-up to and entry in the EU.

This report builds on work presented in the OECD’s 2019 report Regions in Industrial Transition: Policies for People and Places. It considers industrial transition as a complex and enduring challenge in regional development that traditional policy levers have not always been unable to satisfactorily address.

This volume is concerned with labor market developments in China from a comparative perspective on selected East and South Asian countries. It closely examines the changing structure of China's labor market in the context of the Lewisisan turning point in ecomomic development.

Two years ago, citizens in the Arab world—fired by their ideals and visions of a better life—ignited a social movement that inspired people around the globe. In Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Yemen—the so-called Arab countries in transition—people embraced change, ushering in a new era. This issue of F&D looks at the difficulties of this transition, focusing on long-standing forces that shape the region’s economy and offering options for moving ahead to achieve strong, inclusive growth. • Masood Ahmed, Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, maps out an agenda for modernizing and diversifying the region’s economies in “Toward Prosperity for All.” • In “Freedom and Bread Go Together,” Marwan Muasher addresses the intersection of economic progress and political change. • Vali Nasr, in a Point of View column, underscores the vital role small and medium-sized enterprises play in a successful democratic transition. Elsewhere in this issue, we look at how surging oil and gas production in the United States could shake up global energy markets; the effect of uncertainty on economic growth; and Mexico’s competitiveness rebound. F&D's People in Economics series profiles Christina Romer, former chair of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers and an architect of the U.S. stimulus package; and the latest installment in our Back to Basics series explains how structural policies help to both stabilize and strengthen economies.

Publishes in-depth articles on labor subjects, current labor statistics, information about current labor contracts, and book reviews.

Large regional disparities in labor market indicators exist in Central Europe and the Baltic region. Such disparities appear to be persistent over time indicating, in part, a lack of flexibility in the prevailing adjustment mechanisms. Internal labor mobility is often seen as an important instrument to reduce adjustment costs when other mechanisms fail. Drawing from a variety of data sources and utilizing a common empirical framework and estimation strategy, this study identifies patterns and statistical profiles of geographical mobility. It finds internal migration to be generalily low and highly concentrated among better-educated, young, and single workers. This suggests that migration is more likely to reinforce existing inequalities than to act as an equalizing phenomenon. By way of contrast, commuting flows have grown over time and are more responsive to regional economic differentials. The findings suggest the need for appropriate and country-tailored policy measures designed to increase the responsiveness of labor flows to market conditions.