Bibliography

Abstract

https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/node/58129/print

Human Rights Implementation India

Abstract

The objective of this note is to look at the different approaches and theories that can be used for setting wage rates and to help gain an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches and trade-offs involved in setting wages in public employment programmes.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

The Big Society is an integral part of the coalition’s plans for public service retrenchment, but it is premature to dismiss it as exclusively concerned with expenditure cuts and privatisation. The Big Society signals the government’s ambition to transform public services and it is the rubric that is being used to shrink the state and undermine long‐standing systems of public service employment relations. This article considers the origins and meaning of the Big Society and then assesses its consequences for public service provision and the workforce. The Big Society is integrally connected to deficit reduction with the voluntary sector and an increased emphasis on volunteering promoted as a more user‐centred and cost‐effective way of delivering public services in tough times. For the workforce, more competition between diverse providers in conjunction with budget cuts is placing downward pressure on terms and conditions and encouraging employers to question the continuation of national pay determination in many parts of the public sector.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2338.2012.00693.x

Macroeconomics North America

Abstract

The objective of this note is to explore the political economy of PEPs and EGS; how social processes influence the policy scope for PEP/EGS; the different ways in which communities and beneficiaries can participate in the design and implementation of PEP/EGS; and the strengths and risks of such processes.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation

Abstract

This article identifies and explores means of meeting political and strategic challenges to the enactment of a federal job creation program sufficiently large and well-targeted to cope with mass unemployment. The challenges include: anti-government ideology; perceived failure of the Obama stimulus; exaggerated concern over federal deficits; shortcomings of the New Deal model for job creation; limited scope and/or sponsorship of legislative initiatives; and organizing a movement on behalf of the unemployed and large-scale job creation.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12114-011-9110-6

Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

The objective of this note is to provide an overview of different targeting mechanisms and strategies commonly used in public employment programmes (PEPs) as well as expose them to some of the criticisms and challenges of these mechanisms.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

The Job Guarantee (Mosler 1997–1998; Mitchell and Muysken 2008; Wray 1998; hereafter JG) is a policy proposal designed as an alternative to the neoclassical natural rate of unemployment or Nonaccelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU). Whereas that approach presumes that some positive percentage of the total labor force must be sr to avoid accelerating inflation, the JG literature argues instead that a buffer stock of the employed can enaustained as involuntarily unemployed in ordeble true full employment without compromising price stability, with the additional benefit of mitigating the economic and social costs of involuntary unemployment.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2194960

Inflation Macroeconomics Modeling Quantitative

Abstract

Euroland is in a crisis that is slowly but surely spreading from one periphery country to another; it will eventually reach the center. The blame is mostly heaped upon supposedly profligate consumption by Mediterraneans. But that surely cannot apply to Ireland and Iceland. In both cases, these nations adopted the neoliberal attitude toward banks that was pushed by policymakers in Europe and America, with disastrous results. The banks blew up in a speculative fever and then expected their governments to absorb all the losses. The situation was similar in the United States, but in our case the debts were in dollars and our sovereign currency issuer simply spent, lent, and guaranteed 29 trillion dollars’ worth of bad bank decisions. Even in our case it was a huge mistake—but it was “affordable.” Ireland and Iceland were not so lucky, as their bank debts were in “foreign” currencies. By this I mean that even though Irish bank debt was in euros, the Government of Ireland had given up its own currency in favor of what is essentially a foreign currency-the euro, which is issued by the European Central Bank (ECB). Every euro issued in Ireland is ultimately convertible, one to one, to an ECB euro. There is neither the possibility of depreciating the Irish euro nor the possibility of creating ECB euros as necessary to meet demands for clearing. Ireland is in a situation similar to that of Argentina a decade ago, when it adopted a currency board based on the US dollar. And yet the authorities demand more austerity, to further reduce growth rates. As both Ireland and Greece have found out, austerity does not mean reduced budget deficits, because tax revenues fall faster than spending can be cut. Indeed, as I write this, Athens has exploded in riots. Is there an alternative path? In this piece I argue that there is. First, I quickly summarize the financial foibles of Iceland and Ireland. I will then-also quickly-summarize the case for debt relief or default. Then I will present a program of direct job creation that could put Ireland on the path to recovery. Understanding the financial problems and solutions puts the jobs program proposal in the proper perspective: a full implementation of a job guarantee cannot occur within the current financial arrangements. Still, something can be done.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2007283

Europe Macroeconomics

Abstract

Youth employment is of critical concern to almost every country in the world. While the developed world have some strategies to cushion youth against unemployment, the developing and under developed world are struggling with the impact o f youth unemployment. Despite the remarkable economic growth over the last decade, the unemployment rate remains particularly high in the world, especially for youth. Even worse, the youth participation rate in the labour market is very low, (European Commission, 2002). Kenya is a signatory of the World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) held in Copenhagen in 1995 and attended by more than 100 world leaders, flic Government is committed to the goals and targets adopted in the summit. One of these goals is Eradication plan of 1995 – 2015 has been formulated in line with these goals. It provides a national policy and institutional framework against poverty in Kenya. It provides a vision when Kenya hopes to halt and eradicate poverty step by step. Poverty reduction is a national challenge.

http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/6578/KIRATU%20CO...

Africa Development Implementation Youth

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the role of youth empowerment on rural development in Rongo district. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 100 youths, 10 community leaders, and 30 social development workers. The study used structured questionnaires targeting the youths and an interview schedule for the local community leaders to collect data. Descriptive statistics (frequency distributions and mean) were used to analyze and summarize study data while inferential statistics such as chi square were employed to test the relationship between independent and dependent variables. The study established that Jua kali, environmental conservation, HIV/AIDS prevention and financial empowerment through youth trust fund were the main activities practiced under the Kazi Kwa Vijana programme in Rongo district. There existed a significant relationship between participation level of the youth and rural development. There was a further significant relationship between accessibility of the project and rural development. The study also showed that there existed a significant relationship between the length of the programs and rural development in Rongo District. The study recommends that there is need of engaging the private sector in providing employment and training and that priority should be given to sub-projects that can be implemented rapidly using labor intensive techniques. The study also recommends that Rongo district should adopt the best practice operational features of public works program. Together with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Government should endeavor to master the management of the implemented programs and develop a design that allows for flexibility based on demand, with possible scaling-up and scaling-down as necessary. Keyword: Kazi Kwa Vijana Programme(KKVP), Rural Development, Rongo District, HIV/AIDS Prevention, Financial Empowerment, Jua Kali, International Labour Organization(ILO)

https://doi.org/10.35409/ijbmer.2020.3189

Africa Development Implementation Quantitative Youth

Abstract

The present article offers three critiques of the universal basic income guarantee (BIG) proposal discussed by Standing in this volume. First, there is a fundamental tension between the way income in a monetary production economy is generated, the manner in which BIG wishes to redistribute it, and the subsequent negative impact of this redistribution on the process of income generation itself. The BIG policy is dependent for its existence on the very system it wishes to undermine. Second, the macroeconomic effects of BIG on contemporary economies that use modern money are destabilizing. The job guarantee (JG), by contrast, stabilizes both the macro-economy and the currency while helping transform the nature of work itself. Finally, the employment safety-net in Standing’s piece is not an accurate representation of the modern JG proposals – a confusion which this paper aims to remedy.

https://doi.org/10.1515/bis-2013-0010

Macroeconomics

Abstract

This article considers what would happen if unemployed people in South Africa had a right to a minimum level of regular work on decent terms. It looks at the example of India, where a law was passed in 2005 guaranteeing rural households up to 100 days of work a year at minimum wage rates. More than 55 million households now participate in this programme — a rare example of a policy innovation bringing about significant change in a society. India’s employment guarantee has important implications for social and economic policy and gives new meaning to the concept of ‘a right to work’. The article explores how structural inequality limits South Africa’s development options, and considers early lessons from South Africa’s Community Work Programme to make the case for an employment guarantee in South Africa.

https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835x.2012.645650

Africa Human Rights

Abstract

The Employer of Last Resort (ELR) program is a New Deal type of program to provide a government position for anyone seeking work. Unlike private industries who compete over prices and wages, the ELR “industry” is not meant to compete with the private sector; rather it provides public services that are not offered by the private sector. The task here is to estimate the private sector effects of the implementation of the ELR program for the State of Missouri.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0486613412446045

Macroeconomics

Abstract

The objective of this note is to provide policy-makers and practitioners with an overview of various types of public employment programmes1 (PEPs), covering the spectrum from public work programmes to employment guarantee schemes (EGSs) and their characteristics. The note presents some of the key dimensions of these programmes and provides them with guidance on how to analyse them.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

The objective of this note is to expose participants to the training activities most commonly incorporated into public employment programmes (PEPs), in particular the types of training provided to people with different responsibilities within PEPs. This note also discusses how training can play a role in assisting participants to exit the programmes and some of the associated challenges.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

The literature on public employment policies such as the job guarantee (JG) and the employer of last resort (ELR) often emphasizes their macroeconomic stabilization effects. But carefully designed and implemented policies like these can also have profound social transformative effects. In particular, they can help address enduring economic problems such as poverty and gender disparity. To examine how, this paper will look at the reform of Argentina’s Plan Jefes into Plan Familias. Plan Jefes was the hallmark stabilization policy of the Argentine government after the 2001 crisis. It guaranteed a public sector job in a community project to unemployed male and female heads of households. The vast majority of beneficiaries, however, turned out to be poor women. For a number of reasons that are explored below, the program was later reformed into a cash transfer policy, known as Plan Familias, that still exists today. The paper examines this reform in order to evaluate the relative impact of such policies on some of the most vulnerable members of society; namely, poor women. An examination of the Argentine experience based on survey evidence and fieldwork reveals that poor women overwhelmingly want paid work opportunities, and that a policy such as the JG or the ELR cannot only guarantees full employment and macroeconomic stabilization, but it can also serve as an institutional vehicle that begins to transform some of the structures and norms that produce and reproduce gender disparities. These transformative features of public employment policies are elucidated by turning to the capabilities approach developed by Amartya Sen and elaborated by Martha Nussbaum-an approach commonly invoked in the feminist literature. This paper examines how the access to paid employment can enhance what Sen defines as an individual’s “substantive freedom.” Any policy that fosters genuine freedom begins with an understanding of what the targeted population (in this case, poor women) wants. It then devises a strategy that guarantees that such opportunities exist and removes the obstacles to accessing these opportunities.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1998962

Development Gender South America

Abstract

South Africa’s largest active labour market intervention (ALMP) is the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). Its first five-year phase has been completed and a second phase, more ambitious by far than its predecessor, has commenced. Critical analysis suggests that contrary to the hype, the programme has thus far made little lasting impact on the poverty and unemployment it is supposed to address. The analysis is in four parts: the first is an exploration of the background to the EPWP, in its role as South Africa’s largest active labour market policy; the second presents an examination of aspects of the performance of EPWP Phase 1, looking in particular at target vs. actual numbers of job opportunities and training days. This section also looks briefly at the EPWP’s proposed monitoring and evaluation (ME the third considers aspects of the vast increases in the scope of EPWP from Phase 1 to Phase 2, of the way in which these have been communicated, and of the way in which they are to be funded, while fourth the looks at the possible contribution that this second phase could/may make to the goal of halving unemployment by 2014. This part of the paper reproduces a set of scenarios produced by the National Treasury and published in the Budget Review 2010. These point to the extreme unlikelihood of the unemployment halving goal being attained. The paper ends with a set of recommendations, many relating to the production and distribution of knowledge about the EPWP.

https://www.opensaldru.uct.ac.za/handle/11090/59

Africa Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

Projects can be started for commercial purposes or to generate revenues, of sustenance of livelihoods, for eradication of poverty, for humanitarian purposes amongst others. Projects are important for individuals, organizations and economies. This study was necessitated by the fact that the level of performance of the KKV projects at the constituency level was low. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing the performance of the Kazi Kwa Vijana projects with the case Githunguri District. The target population of the study was 543. The population was stratified into four categories namely, line managers, project managers, chiefs and youth. Simple random sampling done to obtain one member from each of these categories. The sample size is 93. The review of related literature included historical perspective of project management, importance of project management, project management cycle, project identification, and preparation of the project and implementation process. From the literature review there was an outcry from all that the KKV projects have not attained their intended objectives .The data was collected using self-administered questionnaires to line managers, project managers, chiefs, and youth. Descriptive statistics and factor analysis was used for quantitative data analysis. This simplified large amount of data for example analysing numerical data through frequency distributions, means, standard deviations, and percentages .Qualitative data was captured through open-ended questions. Themes that relate to the research questions in the study were identified and data was then coded and entered in the computer for analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Scientists (SPSS). The study drew conclusions of a formative nature, on what influence the performance of Kwa Vijana Kazi projects. These determinants include: availability of adequate resources; quality of planning; creativity of project teams; timeliness in implementation; quality of leadership and management; competence of project leaders or managers; the social, political, economic environment in which the project is implemented; relevance of project designs and implementation methodologies; quality of monitoring and evaluation; motivation of project teams and beneficiaries; participation of beneficiaries and stakeholders; and multisectorality of project efforts. The study suggested that the use of projects is becoming more pervasive, with more managers entering the field of project management, the study noted that the success of project practitioners depends on their ability to adopt multiple skills and adapt to complex situations. The study provided recommendations for improving sustainable project management practice, most importantly, the use of systems thinking and approach as an alternative theoretical and paradigmatic foundation for addressing complex economic development project management efforts such KKV

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Factors-Influencing-Performance-...

Africa Development Implementation Quantitative Youth

Abstract

The US economy grew reasonably fast during the last quarter of 2010, and the general expectation is that satisfactory growth will continue in 2011-12. The expansion may, indeed, continue into 2013. But with large deficits in both the government and foreign sectors, satisfactory growth in the medium term cannot be achieved without a major, sustained increase in net export demand. This, of course, cannot happen without either a cut in the domestic absorption of US goods and services or a revaluation of the currencies of the major US trading partners. Our policy message is fairly simple, and one that events over the years have tended to vindicate. Most observers have argued for reductions in government borrowing, but few have pointed out the potential instabilities that could arise from a growth strategy based largely on private borrowing-as the recent financial crisis has shown. With the economy operating at far less than full employment, we think Americans will ultimately have to grit their teeth for some hair-raising deficit figures, but they should take heart in recent data showing record-low “core” CPI inflation—and the potential for export-led growth to begin reducing unemployment.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1785533

Macroeconomics Modeling North America Quantitative

Abstract

The paper builds on the baseline Goodwin (1967) model which describes the reserve army mechanism of capitalist economies. We add to this model segmented labor markets as described in Marx’s Capital, Vol.I. The model exhibits a unique steady state solution which depends on the speeds with which workers are pushed into or out of the labor market segments. We investigate the stability properties of this Goodwin model with segmented labor markets and find that, though there is a stabilizing inflation barrier term in our Phillips curve formulation, interaction with the latent and stagnant portions of the labor market generates potentially destabilizing forces. We then introduce an active labor market policy where government acts as employer-of-last-resort thereby eliminating the stagnant portion of the labor market, whilst erecting a benefit system that sustains the incomes of workers that leave the floating labor market into the latent one. We show that such policies guarantee the macro-stability of the economy’s growth path.

https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/218353

Macroeconomics Modeling Quantitative

Abstract

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is a unique initiative in the history of social security-it is not just an employment scheme but also a potential tool of economic and social change in rural areas. This volume presents the first comprehensive account of the ‘battle for employment guarantee’ in rural India. Staying clear of the propaganda and mud-slinging that has characterized much of the NREGA debate so far, the book presents an informed and authentic picture of the ground realities. The essays are based on field studies of NREGA by a team of researchers who have been actively involved in the campaign for the right to work. They examine a wide-range of issues such as entitlements, corruption, people’s perceptions of NREGA, women’s empowerment, mobilization of unorganized workers, and socio-economic impact of NREGA. They also provide a comparative analysis of the challenges and successes in the implementation of NREGA in different states including Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-battle-for-employment-guar...

Gender Implementation India

Abstract

Public works programs, aimed at building a strong social safety net through redistribution of wealth and generation of meaningful employment, are becoming increasingly popular in developing countries. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), enacted in August 2005, is one such program in India. This paper assesses causal impacts (Intent-to-Treat) of NREGA on public works participation, labor force participation, and real wages of casual workers by exploiting its phased implementation across Indian districts. Using nationally representative data from Indian National Sample Surveys (NSS) and Difference-in-Difference framework, we find that there is a strong gender dimension to the impacts of NREGA: it has a positive impact on the labor force participation and this impact is mainly driven by a much sharper impact on female labor force participation. Similarly, NREGA has a significant positive impact on the wages of female casual workers-real wages of female casual workers increased 8% more in NREGA districts compared with the increase experienced in non-NREGA districts. However, the impact of NREGA on wages of casual male workers has only been marginal (about 1%). Using data from pre-NREGA period, we also perform falsification exercise to demonstrate that the main conclusions are not confounded by pre-existing differential trends between NREGA and non-NREGA districts.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1941959

Gender India Macroeconomics Quantitative

Abstract

This paper examines the development of employment policy in the United Kingdom. Past public-sector direct employment schemes, including those associated with the workfare model, had been discredited as ineffective across the OECD. In numerous countries, however, newer job creation schemes were implemented from the 1990s, aimed at addressing some of the shortcomings of earlier projects, and utilizing the growth of smaller community-based projects – the Intermediate Labour Markets, or ILMs. With the onset of the current economic downturn, and the substantial rise in cyclical unemployment, policy-makers more closely examined options for a demand-led strategy. Although ILMs had not been created with a view to forming part of a comprehensive job guarantee, the potential of these schemes to form part of a wider national strategy was clearly seen. In 2009 the government announced a job guarantee for young people, the Future Jobs Fund. This initiative was inspired at least in part by the work of Hyman Minsky. Although the Future Jobs Fund was scrapped in May 2010, it represents a bold step in active labour market policy. Subsequent analysis of the data related to the Future Jobs Fund indicate that it was a success, achieving its goals even under conservative assumptions.

https://www.postkeynesian.net/working-papers/1106/

Europe

Abstract

This timely book rethinks economic theory and policy by addressing the problem of economic instability and the need to secure broadly shared prosperity. It stresses that advancing economics in the wake of the Great Recession requires an evolutionary standpoint, greater attention to uncertainty and expectations, and the integration of finance into macroeconomics. The result is a broader array of policy options – and challenges – than conventional economics presents.

https://doi.org/10.4337/9780857934840.00014

Inflation Macroeconomics

Abstract

This article proposes the formation of a National Investment Employment Corps to provide a job guarantee for all citizens and to perform the work necessary to maintain and expand the nation’s physical and human infrastructure. The permanent establishment of the National Investment Employment Corps coupled with the federal job guarantee not only would address the employment needs created by the current economic crisis but would yield enduring benefits to national well being. Moreover, it would provide a direct mechanism for producing continuous full employment in the US economy.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12114-010-9075-x

Macroeconomics

Abstract

This chapter consists of five essays on India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Two essays make the case for NREGA as a step towards the right to work, and responds to the critics. The third essay discusses the ground realities of corruption in NREGA, and how it can be prevented. The fourth essay draws attention to problems related to the timely payment of NREGA wages. The concluding essay discusses the productive value of NREGA works and the learning value of the implementation process. The chapter draws on a series of field surveys of NREGA in different Indian states, conducted with student volunteers over the years.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-companion-to-politi...

Human Rights India

Abstract

Using a field survey, this paper examines the empowerment effects of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme on rural women in Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. It argues that women workers have gained from the scheme primarily because of the paid employment opportunity, and benefits have been realised through income-consumption effects, intra-household effects, and the enhancement of choice and capability. Women have also gained to some extent in terms of realisation of equal wages under the nregs, with long-term implications for correcting gender skewness and gender discriminatory wages prevalent in the rural labour market of India. Despite the difficulties and hurdles for women, prospects lie, inter alia, in their collective mobilisation, more so in laggard states.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2010/30/special-articles/empowerment-effect...

Development Gender India

Abstract

The World Bank supported three phases Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) project was first approved in 1996. Malawi, with a population of 13 million, is a low income country with one of the lowest per capita incomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malawi continues to face a variety of social, economic, political and administrative challenges including high inflation, low salaries/pensions of public officials, chronic resource shortages, dearth of public goods and services, unethical individual behavior, and kinship and nepotism. As a result of these factors, corruption remains a major problem in Malawi. In response to these challenges, Malawi has introduced a number of initiatives aimed at promoting good governance and fighting endemic corruption. In May 2004, President Bingu Wa Mutharika, immediately after taking office adopted a zero tolerance stance on corruption. This was subsequently formalized into a declaration on zero tolerance on corruption in February 2007. MASAF projects’ commendable work in identifying governance and accountability risks and integrating mitigation measures into proposed project activities.

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/574943a...

Africa Implementation

Abstract

Unemployment exacts a high cost to its victims, not only in lost income, but also in terms of quality of life (insecurity, depression, abandoned families, divorce, suicide and poorer health). It also exacts a high cost to society in terms of lost output, foregone tax revenue, depreciating human capital, and increased costs of welfare, crime and health care. Yet modern wealthy societies have, principally for the sake of price stability and to avoid the budget costs of a full remedy, chosen to tolerate a substantial level of permanent unemployment. This article explores the moral conditions of this social choice and its rationality in terms of social welfare. It makes and develops support for two claims: society’s tolerance of involuntary unemployment is morally wrong, and it is socially and economically irrational. It concludes that government should guarantee employment by serving as employer of last resort and where appropriate provide for retraining.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00346760902968405

Macroeconomics

Abstract

This paper uses a three-round 4,000-household panel from Andhra Pradesh together with administrative data to explore short and medium-term poverty and welfare effects of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Triple difference estimates suggest that participants significantly increase consumption (protein and energy intake) in the short run and accumulate more nonfinancial assets in the medium term. Direct benefits exceed program-related transfers and are most pronounced for scheduled castes and tribes and households supplying casual labor. Asset creation via program-induced land improvements is consistent with a medium-term increase in assets by nonparticipants and increases in wage income in excess of program cost.

https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/docum...

Development India Quantitative

Abstract

Despite the crucial role it plays in facilitating the realization of other economic and social human rights (Harvey 2007), even the wealthiest countries in the world seem unable to secure the right to work. This chapter attempts to identify the source of this failure through a review of the policies American progressives have promoted to secure the right to work since the 1930s. The first portion of this review focuses on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s seminal twelve-year presidency. American progressives developed two distinct strategies for securing the right to work during this period. The first was a social welfare strategy involving the use of direct job creation to provide decent work for those job seekers whom the private sector could not employ at a particular moment in time. The second was a macroeconomic strategy that relied on the use of deficit spending by the federal government to raise aggregate demand enough to achieve full employment. In this chapter, the former strategy shall be referred to as the direct job-creation strategy and the latter as the aggregate demand management (ADM) strategy. Direct job-creation programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) occupied a central role in the mature New Deal of the second half of the 1930s. Moreover, the social welfare thinking that inspired these initiatives also inspired President Roosevelt’s vigorous advocacy during World War II of a broadened conception of human rights. Nevertheless, American progressives lost interest in the direct job-creation strategy as war-related employment – both military and civilian – finally brought the nation’s lingering unemployment crisis to an end in the early 1940s.

https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139235600.007

Human Rights Macroeconomics

Abstract

The paper discusses the Employment of Last Resort (ELR) policy proposal that has emerged from Post Keynesian theory as an embodiment of what Keynes called “socialization of investment,” as well as an avenue for a social provisioning approach towards socialization of unpaid care labor. Intersections between Post Keynesian and feminist economics are delineated. The paper proposes avenues for input from feminist economics into formulation of an ELR policy, and raises questions about transformation of gender relations.

https://edi.bard.edu/research/notes/cfeps-wp-56-employer-of-last-resor...

Gender Macroeconomics

Abstract

The recent global crisis, originating in financial liberalization, longstanding ‘free’ trade policies and laissez faire promotion in general, has resulted in uneven and rather discouraging socioeconomic outcomes around the world. For the most part, the expectation market efficiency would accompany deregulation, reduction of budget deficits, and price stability, i.e., channel investment where most needed, did not come to pass. The much anticipated poverty reduction and more equitable income distribution impacts proved elusive as well. Furthermore, higher growth rates did not generate sufficient demand to absorb surplus labour. These issues are connected but an in depth discussion is beyond the scope of this short note. Instead we will concentrate on the challenge of joblessness. Perplexed governments, international development agencies, and the Bretton Woods institutions have concluded that ” trickle down ” effects do not always take place, and in any event, not in a timely fashion. Particularly troubling and beyond loss of income, joblessness and poverty are associated with marginalization and social exclusion, susceptibility to extremist ideologies, subjection of people to high levels of violence and criminality and overall loss of hope. There is therefore a particular urgency to engage in policy dialogue and pursue new directions and by now, it is acknowledged that fresh ideas are needed. In the search for new directions, we keep in mind that since poverty and inequality are the result of different processes, one size will not fit all. To give some examples, meagre wages and unregulated work conditions, being on the brink of becoming landless or lacking the skills to be eligible for better paying existing vacancies, each clearly requires a different type of intervention and hence points to distinct policy recommendations. There also exists another group of people whose economic suffering is largely based on chronic and severe lack of employment opportunities. In such instances, ” public work programmes ” and ” employment guarantee schemes, ” whereby the government becomes the employer of last resort (ELR), can go a long way. These are sometimes referred to as ‘active labour market policies’, and there have been many such country experiences; ii at its core, such a policy makes it the obligation of the state to provide a paid work entitlement to those ready and willing but unable to find a job. Historically, such job opportunities have been created primarily in construction and maintenance of physical infrastructural assets. Often bypassed are equally meaningful jobs that …

https://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/UNDP-Levy/South_Africa/Policy_Brief...

Africa Development Gender

Abstract

Job creation is once again at the forefront of policy action, and for advocates of pro-employment policies, President Obama’s Keynesian bent is a most welcome change. However, there are concerns that Obama’s plan simply does not go far enough, and that a large-scale public investment program may face shortages of skilled labor, put upward pressure on wages, and leave women and minorities behind. Both concerns can be addressed by a simple amendment to the Obama plan that will bring important additional benefits. The amendment proposed here is for the government to offer a job guarantee to all unemployed individuals who are ready, willing, and able to participate in the economic recovery—that is, to target the unemployed directly.

https://www.levyinstitute.org/publications/obamas-job-creation-promise

Gender Macroeconomics North America Racial Justice

Abstract

Este trabajo realiza una caracterizacion de la situacion de pobreza y desigualdad en Argentina en las ultimas decadas, posteriormente analizamos las implicancias que las reformas neoliberales tuvieron en la reformulacion del sistema de proteccion social argentino. Ubicamos el “Plan Jefes y Jefas de Hogar Desocupados” desde su lanzamiento en el ano 2002, como un programa de transferencia de ingresos condicionada dirigida a los pobres. Se ubica en un lugar medular en el sistema de politicas sociales en Argentina, tanto por los criterios institucionales que contempla (alcance nacional, articulacion intergubernamental, nivel presupuestario asignado, cobertura poblacional), como por colocarse como la herramienta politico institucional mas relevante y masiva para las expresiones de la cuestion social en el marco de la crisis de 2001-2002. En este contexto analizamos el proceso de emergencia, desarrollo y transiciones del programa. Palabras clave: programa de transferencia de ingresos condicionada, pobreza, asistencia, proteccion social.

https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/3211/321127276006.pdf

Implementation South America

Abstract

Beyond loss of income, joblessness is associated with greater poverty, marginalization, and social exclusion; the current global crisis is clearly not helping. In this new Public Policy Brief, Research Scholar Rania Antonopoulos explores the impact of both joblessness and employment expansion on poverty, paying particular attention to the gender aspects of poverty and poverty-reducing public employment schemes targeting poor women. The author presents the results of a Levy Institute study that examines the macroeconomic consequences of scaling up South Africa’s Expanded Public Works Programme by adding to it a new sector for social service delivery in health and education. She notes that gaps in such services for households that cannot afford to pay for them are mostly filled by long hours of invisible, unpaid work performed by women and children. Her proposed employment creation program addresses several policy objectives: income and job generation, provisioning of communities’ unmet needs, skill enhancement for a new cadre of workers, and promotion of gender equality by addressing the overtaxed time of women.

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/54243/1/611868776.pdf

Africa Gender

Abstract

In this article, I will briefly describe a program that would generate true, full employment, price stability, and currency stability. The basic idea is that the federal government provides the financing for an “employer of last resort program”, as advocated by Hyman Minsky. In effect, this provides a perfectly elastic demand curve for labor. The wage and benefit package is fixed by the government, hence, the program cannot be inflationary. It allows truly full employment, but with “loose” labor markets because firms always have access to labor that can be hired out of the public service employment program at a small mark-up over the government’s administered wage. It also provides a strong automatic stabilizer as government spending will move countercyclically. In a recession, labor flows into the pool, increasing government spending; in expansion the private sector hires labor out of the pool, reducing government spending. I will show that this program can be adopted in any nation that issues its own currency. In summary, I show how we might construct a public service program that guarantees true, full employment with price and currency stability.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1010686

Inflation Macroeconomics

Abstract

This paper aims to present the conceptual and theoretical framework of the employer of last resort (ELR) program and to verify the possibility of its application to the Brazilian economy. The initial hypothesis, based on the theory of Minsky (1986) and Wray (2003), is that if the government acts as an ELR, structural unemployment could be mitigated without generating an inflationary process or incurring the possible curses caused by labor market reform policies. In the present study, we identify main obstacles for the application of ELR to Brazil once it has been adequately adapted to national specificities.

https://doi.org/10.2753/pke0160-3477320210

Implementation Macroeconomics South America

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the impact of the Plan Jefes y Jefas de Hogar Desocupados on structural poverty. This social assistance program, introduced in 2002 as a response to the severe economic and political crisis that affected Argentina at the end of 2001, proposes a cash transfer to unemployed heads of households with dependents under the age of 18 or with disabled individuals of any age. We found that the impact of the JJH program on the monetary aspect of poverty is minor and its impact on employment is uncertain, because it is not clear whether it generated new jobs.

https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/597/59724201003.pdf

Macroeconomics South America

Abstract

Unemployment was singled out by John Maynard Keynes as one of the principle faults of capitalism; the other is excessive inequality. Obviously, there is some link between these two faults: since most people living in capitalist economies must work for wages as a major source of their incomes, the inability to obtain a job means a lower income. If jobs can be provided to the unemployed, inequality and poverty will be reduced–although such policy will not directly address the problem of excessive income at the top of the distribution. Most importantly, Keynes wanted to put unemployed labor to work–not digging holes, but in socially productive ways. This would help to ensure that the additional effective demand created by government spending would not be exhausted in higher prices as it ran up against bottlenecks or other supply constraints. Further, it would help maintain public support for the government’s programs by providing useful output. And it would generate respect for, and feelings of self-worth in, the workers employed in these projects (no worker would want to spend her days digging holes that serve no useful purpose). President Roosevelt’s New Deal jobs programs (such as the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps) are good examples of such targeted job-creating programs. These provided income and employment for workers, actually helped increase the nation’s productivity, and left us with public buildings, dams, trails, and even music that we still enjoy today. As our nation (and the world) collapses into deep recession, or even depression, it is worthwhile to examine Hyman P. Minsky’s comprehensive approach to resolving the unemployment problem.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1394467

Macroeconomics

Abstract

The effect of unemployment on mental health was examined with meta-analytic methods across 237 cross-sectional and 87 longitudinal studies. The average overall effect size was d =0.51 with unemployed persons showing more distress than employed persons. A significant difference was found for several indicator variables of mental health (mixed symptoms of distress, depression, anxiety, psychosomatic symptoms, subjective well-being, and self esteem). The average number of persons with psychological problems among the unemployed was 34%, compared to 16% among employed individuals. Moderator analyses demonstrated that men and people with blue-collar-jobs were more distressed by unemployment than women and people with white-collar jobs. Linear and curvilinear moderating effects of the duration of unemployment were also identified. Furthermore, the negative effect of unemployment on mental health was stronger in countries with a weak level of economic development, unequal income distributions, or weak unemployment protection systems compared to other countries. Meta-analyses of longitudinal studies and natural experiments endorsed the assumption that unemployment is not only correlated to distress but also causes it. Seemingly inconsistent longitudinal results of older meta-analyses can be explained by retest artifacts. We also identified mental-health related selection effects during job loss and job search, but they are weak. With an effect size of d =−.35 intervention programs for unemployed people were found to be moderately effective in ameliorating unemployment-related distress among continuously unemployed persons.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2009.01.001

Health Macroeconomics

Abstract

Why should public sector job creation be fashionable? The short answer is that persistent labour underutilisation is a huge economic waste and the private sector will never provide enough working hours at acceptable wages to satisfy the workforce. A longer answer requires an understanding of the basic operations of a modern monetary economy, which recognises that fiat currency systems are public monopolies that introduce imperfect competition into the monetary system, and that the imposition of taxes coupled with insufficient government spending generates unemployment.

https://www.fullemployment.net/publications/wp/2007/07-03.pdf

Australia Macroeconomics

Abstract

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which
entitles rural households to 100 days of casual
employment on public works at the statutory minimum
wage, contains special provisions to ensure full
participation of women. This paper, based on fieldwork
in six states in 2008, examines the socio-economic
consequences of the NREGA for women workers. In spite
of the drawbacks in the implementation of the
legislation, significant benefits have already started
accruing to women through better access to local
employment, at minimum wages, with relatively decent
and safe work conditions. The paper also discusses
barriers to women’s participation.

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/2790414.pdf

Development Gender India

Abstract

Extreme poverty levels were seen in Argentina after the severe crisis unleashed at the end of 2001. This was worsened by a deep production standstill, which made the national, provincial, and municipal governments face the need to generate programs for a comprehensive support of families, specially in relation to all essential aspects, which would enable the eradication of the high levels of indigence, and favor social inclusion so as to mitigate, at least partly, the extreme household income inequality in an increasing polarized society. The ‘Jefes y Jefas de Hogar’ Program (PJJH) is a social assistance program, focused on the unemployed heads of households with dependents under the age of 18 or with disabled individuals of any age, that the national government started out as of May 2002.1 In order to achieve the social objectives stated above, a cash transfer of US$45 ($150) (one-hundred and fifty Argentine pesos) per month is given to each beneficiary, which would correspond to the cost of the basic basket for adult equivalents at the end of 2001, a sum which by October 2002 was no longer up to date.2 In consideration of this assistance, the program establishes that the plan recipients must be engaged in one of the following activities: enter into a training program (not clearly established), perform work for the community for up to 20 hours per week (which would be defined and verified locally through political mechanisms) or transform the assistance into an employment subsidy for the company hiring that person.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203927922-22

Macroeconomics South America

Abstract

After the 2001 crisis, Argentina—once the poster-child for pro-market structural-adjustment policies—had to define a new strategy in order to manage the societal demands that had led to the fall of the previous administration. The demand by the majority of the population for employment recovery spurred the government to introduce a massive employment program, the Plan Jefes y Jefas de Hogar Desocupados (Program for Unemployed Male and Female Heads of Households). This program, which accounted for less than 1 percent of GDP at the outset, paved the way for a reduction of the contractionary effects that otherwise would have caused a catastrophic devaluation of the currency. This paper explores how Argentina pursued a strategy of employment generation, with the state participating as employer of last resort, to recover from one of the worst social and economic crises in its history.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1132772

Implementation Macroeconomics Quantitative South America

Abstract

WITH THE 2008 ELECTION LIKELY TO LEAD TO DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF THE LEGISLATIVE and executive branches, it is time for a bold new vision of the economy-one that will reduce the increased inequality that has grown in tandem with our national wealth. It is time to take a big step toward shared prosperity. Some promising progressive proposals have been crafted.1 However, battered by three decades of conservative assaults, including well-planned attacks on government for the people, Democrats often exhibit timidity rather than temerity. The presidential aspirants do raise economic issues such as health care, taxes, wage stagnation, middle-class insecurity, income inequality, and the negative effects of trade on jobs and communities-and, in the case of John Edwards, concern about poverty and the “two Americas.” Dennis Kucinich does mention chronic unemployment and the need for substantial job creation, and Joseph Biden favors the creation of three million “green collar jobs.” But full employment-long central in Democratic Party platforms-has all but vanished from the discourse.2 Also missing, except from Kucinich’s platform, is a strong emphasis on building up and maintaining our depleted physical infrastructure and undeveloped and often nonexistent human services.

https://doi.org/10.1080/10957960701834399

Macroeconomics

Abstract

After highlighting the failure of mainstream economic theory in dealing with the rising global inequality and economic struggles brought about by neoliberal economic policies, the paper presents the outline of an alternative policy proposal to create full employment and price stability, and to restore financial sovereignty to developing countries. Under the Employer of Last Resort (ELR) program, the government guarantees employment to all through a decentralized community-based job creation policy. Projects are selected by local community groups based on community needs and the availability of skills in the unemployment pool. Funding is provided by a central/federal fiscal authority and requires policy coordination with the central bank.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0486613408319918

Macroeconomics

Abstract

This Primer introduces you to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA 2005). It is written in simple language and addressed to a wide audience: labourers, activists, journalists, researchers, and all concerned citizens.

NREGA 2005 is a law whereby anyone who is willing to do unskilled manual labour at the statutory minimum wage is entitled to being employed on public works within 15 days. If employment is not provided, an unemployment allowance has to be paid. However, the work guarantee in NREGA 2005 is subject to an initial limit of “100 days per household per year”.

Workers’ organisations have been demanding a national Employment Guarantee Act for many years, along with other legal safeguards for the right to work. The NREGA 2005 was enacted by the Indian Parliament after a long struggle, and much resistance from some quarters (including sections of the corporate sector, the business media, and the Finance Ministry). The Act is by no means perfect. In fact, it is a heavily “diluted” version of an earlier draft, prepared in August 2004 by concerned citizens. Nevertheless, NREGA 2005 is a potential tool of empowerment for rural labourers: guaranteed employment can protect them from economic insecurity, strengthen their bargaining power, and help them to organise and fight for their rights.

None of this will happen, however, if NREGA 2005 remains on paper, or if it is implemented in a half- hearted manner. The history of every social legislation is that it takes a long struggle for people to enforce their entitlements, even after the law is in place. The success of NREGA 2005 requires a massive process of public mobilisation. In particular, it depends on the strength of organised demand for guaranteed employment. The first task is to understand the Act, and especially the rights that we have under the Act. The main purpose of this Primer is to facilitate this learning process.

https://www.jobguarantee.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1.2.2.-NREGA-P...

Asia Development Human Rights Implementation India