Job Quality and Poverty in Latin America

Brummund, Peter ; Mann, Christopher ; Rodriguez-Castelan, Carlos

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: job quality;    poverty;    employment;    benefits;    job security;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7927
RP-ID  :  WPS7927

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Labor market dynamics have played asignificant role in the remarkable social gains experiencedacross Latin America over the recent past. Assessing thequality of employment, beyond the perspective of income, toinclude other fundamental aspects of jobs --such as whetherjobs are secure, provide benefits, or allow human capitalaccumulation -- can shed light on the sustainability ofthese achievements. This is particularly pertinent given theregion's current economic slowdown. Using harmonizeddata for 17 countries in Latin America, this paper connectsthe role of job quality with the recent process of inclusivegrowth across the region, and particularly with howindividuals worked their way out of poverty. The paper firstproposes a multi-dimensional measure for job quality, andthen uses this measure to compare job quality acrosscountries and over time. The paper also studies some of thecorrelates of job quality and the relationship between jobquality and poverty. The main finding is that job qualityacross the region began to increase since 2004, coupled withthe favorable terms of trade brought to the region by thecommodities super cycle of the 2000s. The best predictors ofjob quality are age, gender, education, formal employment,and union membership. Both health and retirement benefitsare the dimensions of job quality that are best correlatedwith not living in poverty.