How Effective Are Active Labor Market Policies in Developing Countries? : A Critical Review of Recent Evidence

McKenzie, David

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: LABOR MARKET;    LABOR POLICY;    LABOR REGULATIONS;    VOCATIONAL TRAINING;    WAGE SUBSIDIES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8011
RP-ID  :  WPS8011

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Jobs are the number one policy concernof policy makers in many countries. The global financialcrisis, rising demographic pressures, high unemploymentrates, and concerns over automation all make it seemimperative that policy makers employ increasingly moreactive labor market policies. This paper critically examinesrecent evaluations of labor market policies that haveprovided vocational training, wage subsidies, job searchassistance, and assistance moving to argue that many activelabor market policies are much less effective thanpolicymakers typically assume. Many of these evaluationsfind no significant impacts on either employment orearnings. One reason is that urban labor markets appear towork reasonably well in many cases, with fewer marketfailures than is often thought. As a result, there is lessof a role for many traditional active labor market policiesthan is common practice. The review then discusses examplesof job creation policies that do seem to offer promise, andconcludes with lessons for impact evaluation and policy isthis area.