Front Cover -- Contents -- Foreword -- About the Authors -- Acknowledgments -- Executive Summary -- Abbreviations -- 1 Overview -- Rationale for this report -- Road map -- Key insights -- Three dimensions of the policy response -- Implications for the COVID-19 crisis -- Notes -- References -- Annex 1A: Background papers written for this report -- 2 The Dynamics of Labor Market Adjustment -- Introduction -- Labor market flows: Unemployment versus informality -- Job destruction and job creation in times of crisis -- A changing employment structure and the disappearance of good jobs -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Annex 2A: Additional analysis of employment transitions -- 3 The Impact on Workers, Firms, and Places -- Introduction -- Workers: A bigger toll on the unskilled -- Firms: The cost of limited market competition -- Places: The role of local opportunities and informality -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 4 Toward an Integrated Policy Response -- Introduction -- Three key policy dimensions -- Aggregate: Stronger macroeconomic stabilizers -- Social protection and labor systems: Cushioning the impact on workers and preparing for change -- Structural: Greater competition and place-based policies -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Boxes -- Box 4.1 Family allowances as de facto unemployment insurance -- Box 4.2 Brazil's social protection response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic -- Box 4.3 Latin America and the Caribbean's social protection and labor responses to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) contraction of 2020 -- Box 4.4 Permanent, systemic shocks: Responses to job dislocation caused by structural changes -- Box 4.5 How well have regional policies performed at strengthening economic opportunities? -- Box 4.6 Evidence on the effects of place-based policies on mobility and labor market outcomes -- Figures.

Figure 1.1 Persistent employment loss following crises: The myth of economic recovery -- Figure 1.2 How adjustment works and the policies that can smooth it -- Figure 1.3 Stabilizers and macroeconomic frameworks: Policy reforms -- Figure 1.4 Addressing crises' impacts and preparing workers for change: Policy reforms -- Figure 1.5 Tackling structural issues that worsen the impacts of crises on workers -- Figure 2.1 Quarterly fluctuations in unemployment and GDP growth, 2005-17 -- Figure 2.2 Quarterly net flows into formal and informal employment, 2005-17 -- Figure 2.3 Part-time work as a margin of adjustment in Argentina, 2005-15 -- Figure 2.4 Quarterly job loss, formal and informal sectors, 2005-17 -- Figure 2.5 Quarterly net job finding rates, formal and informal sectors, 2005-17 -- Figure 2.6 Gross job flows in Brazil and Ecuador, formal sector -- Figure 2.7 Gross job flows and differential rates in large and small firms in the formal sector -- Figure 2.8 Net job creation rates in Brazil and Ecuador's formal sectors -- Figure 2.9 Quarterly share of workers entering unemployment per wage decile, formal and informal sectors, 2005-17 -- Figure 2.10 Impulse response functions, by type of employment, during the 30 months after the beginning of the recession -- Figure 2.11 Estimates of Okun's Law for countries in the LAC region, 1991-2018 -- Figure 2A.1 Quarterly net flows into part-time work, formal and informal sectors, 2005-17 -- Figure 3.1 Effect on wages of displacement caused by plant closings in Mexico -- Figure 3.2 Unemployment rates by cohort, Argentina and Colombia -- Figure 3.3 Employment and wage effects of higher local unemployment at labor market entry in Mexico -- Figure 3.4 Dynamic effects of the global financial crisis on workers -- Figure 3.5 Heterogeneity in effects of the global financial crisis across workers.

Figure 3.6 Dynamic effects of the global financial crisis on workers by skill -- Figure 3.7 Dynamic effects of the global financial crisis on firms -- Figure 3.8 Effects of the global financial crisis on Brazilian workers depending on sectoral concentration and state ownership -- Figure 3.9 Effects of the global financial crisis on Brazilian workers depending on local labor market informality -- Figure 4.1 How adjustment works and a triple entry of policies to smooth it -- Figure 4.2 Wage and unemployment responses during crises in the 2000s versus crises in the 1990s, Brazil and Mexico -- Figure 4.3 Sensitivity of unemployment and wages to output fluctuations -- Figure 4.4 Stabilizers and macroeconomic frameworks: Policy reforms -- Figure 4.5 Effective coverage of unemployment benefits, selected countries, latest available year -- Figure 4.6 Economic cycle, unemployment, and spending on labor policies and programs -- Figure 4.7 Level and composition of government spending on social assistance transfer programs, selected LAC countries -- Figure 4.8 Insufficient support, with many left behind -- Figure 4.9 Coverage of social registries and support received through social assistance programs during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic -- Figure 4.10 Expansion of cash transfer programs in response to crises -- Figure B4.2.1 Brazil's COVID-19 (coronavirus) social protection and labor response strategy for two major vulnerable groups -- Figure 4.11 Positive effects of welfare transfers on local formal employment -- Figure B4.3.1 Stylized social protection and labor policy responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic -- Figure 4.12 Employment and reemployment policies, by the nature of the shock causing displacement -- Figure 4.13 Addressing crises' impacts and preparing for change: Policy reforms.

Figure 4.14 Employment protection legislation in OECD member countries and selected Latin American countries, 2014 or most recent data -- Figure 4.15 Regulation of employment in the LAC countries, circa 2019 -- Figure 4.16 Flexibility of labor regulation and spending on human capital and labor programs in selected countries in LAC compared to other regions -- Figure 4.17 Labor market regulation instruments and the duration of unemployment -- Figure 4.18 Tackling structural issues that worsen the impacts of crises on workers -- Map -- Map 4.1 Unemployment insurance throughout the world -- Tables -- Table 1A.1 Background papers written for this report -- Table 2.1 Cyclical components of GDP growth, the unemployment rate, and net flows out of the labor force -- Table 2.2 Cyclicality of net flows across sectors and out of employment, 2005-17 -- Table 2.3 Correlation of job loss across sectors -- Table 2A.1 Cyclicality of employment transitions, by gender and skill level -- Table 3.1 Presence of negative effects on employment and wage scarring, by gender and education -- Table 4.1 Landscape of formal unemployment income support in the LAC region.