Recent Trends in Employment, income Distribution and Poverty

The macroeconomic and institutional reforms gradually being implemented in the region have prompted the retooling of many production sectors and have had a marked effect on the levels and characteristics of employment. One of the objectives of trade liberalization efforts, privatizations and market deregulation has been to alter the allocation of production resources in order to increase the efficiency of resource use. It was known that such changes would inevitably have some social cost, since levels of production, employment and capital would all decline in sectors that had previously been protected or favoured by such regulations. T h e hope was, however, that in the short and medium terms the reforms would trigger sharp rises in productivity which would galvanize the economy as a whole. The sectors benefiting the most front the reforms would then spearhead such a strong expansion of the economy that either directly or in directly it would absorb the unemployment initially generated by those measures.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Decent Work and Economic Growth

Reduced Inequalities