Jobs Crisis : Household and Government Responses to the Great Recession in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Title:
Jobs Crisis : Household and Government Responses to the Great Recession in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Author:
Ajwad, M Ihsan.
ISBN:
9780821387436
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (109 pages)
Series:
Directions in Development
Contents:
Half Title Page -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Overview -- Chapter 1 Introduction -- Eastern Europe and Central Asia Were Particularly Hard Hit by the Global GDP Contraction, the First Since World War II -- Four Transmission Channels: How the Crisis Affects Household Welfare -- About This Report -- Note -- Chapter 2 Labor Market Impacts -- Labor Markets Were the Main Transmission Channel for the Crisis -- Unemployment Increased Sharply -- Workers Who Kept Their Jobs Took Home Smaller Paychecks -- In Bulgaria, Labor Market Adjustments Were More Severe on Roma and Turkish Minorities -- The Employment Decline Varied across Countries Due Not Only to Labor Market Regulations but also to a Confluence of Factors -- Foreign Labor Market Conditions Spawned Domestic Consequences -- Notes -- Chapter 3 Household Coping Mechanisms -- Crisis Impacts Prompt Steps to Increase Disposable Income and Reduce Expenditures -- Households That Experienced a Shock Sought to Cope by Increasing Disposable Income -- Households That Experienced a Shock also Coped by Reducing Expenditures during the Crisis -- Poor and Minority Households Coped by Adopting Riskier Coping Strategies than Rich Households -- Notes -- Chapter 4 Social Policy Responses to Protect Households -- Four Tools Have Been Deployed to Protect People from the Effects of the Crisis -- Labor Market Measures Have Been Deployed and Early Results Are Encouraging -- Social Assistance Measures Have Been Leveraged and the Response Is Mixed -- Minimum Pensions Were Used as a Crisis Response to Protect the Poor -- Government Education Spending Was Protected More than Government Health Sector Spending in 2009, and Some Governments Tried to Shield the Poor from Service Disruptions -- Notes -- Chapter 5 Improving Responses to Subsequent Crises.
Automatic Stabilizers -- Adjusters -- Starters -- Crisis Responses Require Fiscal Discipline, Planning, and Data -- More Work on Crisis Responses Is Needed -- Notes -- References -- Back Cover.
Abstract:
The financial crisis, which began in the United States and Western Europe swiftly expanded into an economic crisis throughout developing countries. The Eastern Europe and Central Asia region was hit harder than any other region in the world. Deteriorating macroeconomic conditions led to deteriorating household welfare, as unemployment increased. Those workers who kept their jobs took home smaller paychecks. Men became more highly represented among the unemployed, and youth struggled to secure their first job.Confronted by an income shock, families tried two strategies. First, families took steps to increase incomes, by inserting non-working members of the family into the labor force, by increasing the number of hours of work, borrowing, and tapping formal and informal safety nets. Second, families took steps to reduce expenditures, but some of those measures (food expenditures, health care utilization) could have an impact on nutrition and health in the long run. More positively, most households kept their children in school. Many countries took steps to protect human welfare and long-term human capital. Measures included gearing up automatic stabilizers such as unemployment insurance, scaling up active labor market programs, strengthening last-resort social assistance, or increasing minimum pensions. These measures, however, only covered a minority of those in need and some programs responded more slowly than necessary. In addition, evidence from a few countries shows steps to ensure access to health and education services, especially for the poorest in the population.The report finds that governments in the region can improve their crisis responses by making automatic stabilizers more responsive and broad based; adjusting program parameters to the conditions on the ground; and starting new programs to fill coverage gaps that emerge. However, to
enable an efficient and flexible crisis response, governments can benefit from fiscal discipline during good times and reliable and timely monitoring systems.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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