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Decent Work and Economic Growth
Preface
Governments forest owners industries and civil society around the world rely on credible and current information to develop forest management plans policies and strategies that respond to emerging issues and trends. Nowhere is the need for reliable data more greatly felt than in Europe where the forest sector must come to terms with new realities that are bringing about hdamental change. Major challenges include the need to determine 1) whether the production of raw materials should give way to recreation and the conservation of biological diversity in the post-industrial society of Western Europe or 2) the extent to which the forest sector can contribute in a sustainable way to overall economic development in Eastern Europe and Russia. How international trade and the rapid growth of markets in other parts of the world affect the European forest sector is another question to which answers must be found.
Trends and current status of the forest sector
This first major chapter of this report presents information about the trends and current status of a number of different aspects of the forest sector in Europe. It starts by describing the European forest resource both in terms of the quantity and quality of the resource and the way that it is managed. Following this a number of sections describe some of the main trends in the markets for forest products (wood products and raw materials non-wood forest products forest services and wood energy). It finishes by briefly describing how the sector interacts with society both in terms of government policies within and outside the sector and the contribution that the forest sector makes to society.
The outlook for the forest sector
The outlook for the forest sector comprises two main parts. Firstly there are the projections of fbture developments that are largely driven by external forces. Secondly there are elements of the outlook that are based on the choices that are taken by individuals currently working in the sector. This chapter of the report focuses on the first part of the outlook while the choices for future action are discussed in the next and final chapter of the report.
Trade and development report update: April 2024
The Impact of Marriage and Children on Labour Market Participation
This paper is being released in the midst of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. In addition to being a health crisis unlike any other in recent history the pandemic is an economic and social crisis. Families—and women within them—are juggling an increase in unpaid care work as well as losses in income and paid work. Lone mothers in particular are acutely vulnerable unable to share the care burden and more likely to work for low pay and in vulnerable occupations. The restrictions put in place to combat COVID-19 also leave women and their families in precarious positions. Understanding the extent to which women’s participation in the labour market is linked to family structures is even more crucial in these uncertain times. This publication drawing on a global dataset and new indicators developed by UN Women and the International Labour Organization shows that women’s employment is shaped by domestic and caregiving responsibilities in ways that men’s is not. The data collected pre-COVID-19 provide insights into the distribution of domestic and caregiving responsibilities within various types of households—insights that are critical at this juncture when policies and programmes are being designed to respond to the pandemic’s economic fallout.
Economic Development and the Evolution of Internal Migration
This paper uses Demographic and Health surveys to estimate internal migration between and within rural and urban areas for 31 countries at different stages of development. The methodological approach is to estimate migration transition matrices indicating the shares of the population (by gender) that move or stay in rural and urban areas over three periods (childhood and two forward periods). Results indicate that rural-to-rural migration is the dominant form of migration in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia that are still relatively less developed. For countries that have already undertaken the path of structural transformation rural-to-urban migration is greater than intra-rural migration. Sizeable urban to rural migration flows are found in many countries with rural returnees often contributing substantially to these urban-to-rural flows which has implications for development options in both rural and urban areas. Return migration to rural areas is particularly large in countries in relatively early phases of development and higher for males than for females. For the sample of countries in sub-Saharan Africa on average 61 percent of males and 34 percent of females migrating from urban-to-rural areas are return migrants who lived in rural areas as children. The analysis also confirms anecdotal evidence that migrants move in several steps: in the overall sample of countries at least 41 percent of males and 36 percent of females who move once will move a second time (or more). Internal migration patterns vary considerably according to gender in some regions of the world; however in countries that are further along the path of structural transformation and particularly urbanization the magnitude of migration flows appears to be similar across genders.
Institutions, Economic Freedom and Structural Transformation in 11 Sub-Saharan Countries
Good institutions are a fundamental pre-requisite to successfully achieve structural transformation in growing developing countries (UNECA 2016). Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing a rapid growth but a weak and slow structural transformation process which is mainly characterized by the reallocation of labour from agriculture to low skilled services. The focus of this paper is to explore how political and economic institutions affect structural transformation in a panel of 11 sub-Saharan African countries. Our empirical analysis reveals a positive and statistically significant effect of quality of institutions and economic freedom measures on structural transformation between sectors which translates into movement out of agriculture. Better institutions appear to not improve productivity within sectors however results highlight the important role played by institutions in facilitating reallocation or resources across sectors. Our findings suggest that improving the legal system providing a stable macroeconomic environment and improving freedom to exchange across borders will facilitate structural transformation processes in sub-Saharan African countries. We finally recommend that measures undertaken by governments should be included in a set of targeted policies designed according to countries’ characteristics.