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After a review of the literature, this paper concludes that there is potential for significant “spillover effects” from FDI into host countries. However, it identifies some limitations of this potential to do with the stock of human capital, the interest in local firms of promoting skills transfer and the competition environment. The authors suggest comparing conditions and effects between regions, particularly between East Asia and Latin America where transfer in the former has been more consistent than in the latter. They propose, further, that an analysis of the type of FDI flowing to different regions and countries could provide clues to the potential for maximising the gains to local skills accumulation. Finally, studies are needed which examine the nature of skills provided by FDI, and ways in which training institutions, business schools, for example, can complement in-service training by firms in FDI host countries ...
During the 1960s and 1970s, foreign direct investment (FDI) and the activities of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in less developed countries (LDCs) were generally viewed unfavourably, often being considered exploitative and as leading to worsening labour market conditions and job losses. However, there was a gradual shift in perception during the 1980s and 1990s, with increasing recognition of positive features of FDI such as technological spillovers and the increase in demand for domestic industry. Hence many countries, including LDCs, have introduced measures such as favourable tax treatment for foreign firms in order to attract FDI2. Against this background, FDI flows to LDCs have grown rapidly, increasing from 0.9 per cent of LDCs’ combined GDP in 1990 to a peak of 4.1 per cent in 1999, before declining slightly to 3.3 per cent in 2003 (World Bank, 2005). This article surveys the theoretical and empirical literature that describes the role of FDI in the economic growth of LDCs, and extracts its policy implications.
The experience of newly-industrialised countries suggests the need for an analysis in which the pattern of comparative advantage is not set in stone but is potentially flexible, and in which less developed countries can develop and converge in both income and economic structure to industrial economies. The pattern of trade and development in the world economy clearly shows the key role played by history: cumulative causation has created concentrations of industrial activity in particular locations and left other areas more dependent on primary activities. By changing the attractiveness of countries as a base for manufacturing production, trading arrangements can potentially trigger or postpone industrial development. At the same time, cut-throat bidding war to attract FDI may have unintended negative consequences on recipient countries if they lead governments to offer excessive fiscal and financial subsidies and to disregard the protection of the investment and of workers’ rights ...
This paper proposes a novel method for identifying and visualising key employment obstacles that may prevent individuals from participating fully in the labour market. The approach is intended to complement existing sources of information that governments use when designing and implementing activation and employment-support policies. In particular, it aims to provide individual and household perspectives on employment problems, which may be missed when relying on common labour-force statistics or on administrative data, but which are relevant for targeting and tailoring support programmes and related policy interventions. A first step describes a series of employment-barrier indicators at the micro level, comprising three domains: work-related capabilities, financial incentives and employment opportunities. For each domain, a selected set of concrete employment barriers are quantified using the EU-SILC multi-purpose household survey. In a second step, a statistical clustering method (latent class analysis), is used to establish profiles and patterns of employment barriers among individuals with no or weak labour-market attachment. A detailed illustration for two countries (Estonia and Spain) shows that “short-hand” groupings that are often highlighted in the policy debate, such as “youth” or “older workers”, are in fact composed of multiple distinct sub-groups that face very different combinations of employment barriers and likely require different policy approaches. Results also indicate that individuals typically face two or more simultaneous employment obstacles suggesting that addressing one barrier at a time may not have the intended effect on employment levels. From a policy perspective, the results support calls for carefully sequencing activation and employment support measures, and for coordinating them across policy domains and institutions.
Although Australia’s labour market escaped the dramatic negative impact of the global financial economic crisis seen in other OECD countries, a substantial share of working-age Australians either did were not working or worked only to a limited extent as the global recovery gathered pace between 2013 and 2014. The paper extends a method proposed by Fernandez et al. (2016) to measure and visualise employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour-market attachment, using household micro-data.
The most common employment obstacles in Australia are limited work experience, low skills and poor health. A notable finding is that almost one third of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation. A statistical clustering approach points to seven distinct groups, each characterized by unique profiles of employment barriers that call for different configurations of activation and employment-support policies.
In the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis, large shares of working-age individuals in Estonia either did not work or only to a limited extent. By 2013, several years after the start of the labour-market recovery, 18% were still without employment during the entire year, and a further 13% had weak labour-market attachment, working only a fraction of the year, or on restricted working hours. This paper applies a novel method for measuring and visualising employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour-market attachment, using household micro-data. It first develops indicators to quantify employment obstacles under three broad headings: (i) work-related capabilities, (ii) incentives, and (iii) employment opportunities. It then uses these indicators in conjunction with a statistical clustering approach to identify unobserved (“latent”) groups of individuals facing similar combinations of barriers. The resulting typology of labour-market difficulties provides insights on the most pressing policy priorities in supporting different groups into employment. A detailed policy discussion illustrates how the empirical results can inform people-centred assessments of existing labour-market integration measures and of key challenges across different policy areas and institutions. The most common employment obstacles in Estonia were low skill levels, health limitations and limited work experience. Financial disincentives, care responsibilities and scarce job opportunities were less widespread overall, although important barriers for some groups. A notable finding is that almost one third of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of narrow policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation.
Following five years of economic growth, employment in Finland increased to 72.6% of the working-age population in 2019. The effects of the strong recovery, however, were not felt by all, and long-term unemployment remains stubbornly high.
This report uses a statistical clustering model to map individuals with similar support needs into 8 “faces” of joblessness: (1) the rural inactive; (2) unstable workers; (3) skilled retirees; (4) urban active; (5) female carers; (6) low-skilled youth; (7) prime-aged low skilled; and finally (8) those with limited financial incentives.
These results shed light on the effectiveness of existing employment support strategies, and lay the foundation for the development of holistic policy packages: that are tailored to the barriers people face; that recognise most people with weak labour-market attachment face multiple barriers, and that coordinate policy interventions across policy domains and institutions accordingly.
In the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis, large shares of working-age individuals in Ireland either did not work or only to a limited extent. As the labour-market recovery gathered pace during 2013, 32% were without employment during the entire year, and a further 14% had weak labour-market attachment, working only a fraction of the year, or on restricted working hours. This paper applies a novel method for measuring and visualising employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour-market attachment, using household micro-data. It first develops indicators to quantify employment obstacles under three broad headings: (i) work-related capabilities, (ii) incentives, and (iii) employment opportunities. It then uses these indicators in conjunction with a statistical clustering approach to identify unobserved (“latent”) groups of individuals facing similar combinations of barriers. The resulting typology of labour-market difficulties provides insights on the most pressing policy priorities in supporting different groups into employment. A detailed policy discussion illustrates how the empirical results can inform people-centred assessments of existing labour-market integration measures and of key challenges across different policy areas and institutions. The most common employment obstacles in Ireland were limited work experience, low skill levels, and scarce job opportunities. Although financial disincentives, health problems and care responsibilities were less widespread overall, they remained important barriers for some groups. A notable finding is that just under 40% of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of narrow policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation.
In the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis, large shares of working-age individuals in Italy either did not work or only to a limited extent. As the employment rate bottomed out in 2013, 32% were without employment during the entire year, and a further 7% had weak labour-market attachment, working only a fraction of the year, or on restricted working hours. This paper applies a novel method for measuring and visualising employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour-market attachment, using household micro-data. It first develops indicators to quantify employment obstacles under three broad headings: (i) work-related capabilities, (ii) incentives, and (iii) employment opportunities. It then uses these indicators in conjunction with a statistical clustering approach to identify unobserved (“latent”) groups of individuals facing similar combinations of barriers. The resulting typology of labour-market difficulties provides insights on the most pressing policy priorities in supporting different groups into employment. A detailed policy discussion illustrates the use of these empirical results to inform people-centred assessments of existing labour-market integration measures and of key challenges across different policy areas and institutions. The most common employment obstacles in Italy were limited work experience, low education and skill levels, and scarce job opportunities. Although financial disincentives, health limitations and care responsibilities were less widespread overall, they remained important barriers for some groups. A striking finding is that more than half of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of narrow policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation.
In the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis, large shares of working-age individuals in Lithuania either do not work or only to a limited extent. By 2013, several years after the start of the labour-market recovery, 21% were still without employment during the entire year, and a further 11% had weak labour-market attachment, working only a fraction of the year, or on restricted working hours. This paper applies a novel method for measuring and visualising employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour-market attachment, using household micro-data. It first develops indicators to quantify employment obstacles under three broad headings: (i) work-related capabilities, (ii) incentives, and (iii) employment opportunities. It then uses these indicators in conjunction with a statistical clustering approach to identify unobserved (“latent”) groups of individuals facing similar combinations of barriers. The resulting typology of labour-market difficulties provides insights on the most pressing policy priorities in supporting different groups into employment. A detailed policy discussion illustrates how these empirical results can inform people-centred assessments of existing labour-market integration measures and of key challenges across different policy areas and institutions. The most common employment obstacles in Lithuania were health limitations, limited work experience, and scarce job opportunities. Although financial disincentives and care responsibilities were less widespread overall, they remained important barriers for some groups. A notable finding is that just over one third of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of narrow policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation.
.In the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis, large shares of working-age individuals in Portugal either did not work or only to a limited extent. As the employment rate bottomed out in 2013, 29% were without employment during the entire year, and a further 10% had weak labour-market attachment, working only a fraction of the year, or on restricted working hours. This paper applies a novel method for measuring and visualising employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour-market attachment, using household micro-data. It first develops indicators to quantify employment obstacles under three broad headings: (i) work-related capabilities, (ii) incentives, and (iii) employment opportunities. It then uses these indicators in conjunction with a statistical clustering approach to identify unobserved (“latent”) groups of individuals facing similar combinations of barriers. The resulting typology of labour-market difficulties provides insights on the most pressing policy priorities in supporting different groups into employment. A detailed policy discussion illustrates how these empirical results can inform people-centred assessments of existing labour-market integration measures and of key challenges across different policy areas and institutions. The most common employment obstacles in Portugal were low education/skills, a lack of recent work experience, scarce job opportunities and health problems. Financial disincentives and care responsibilities were less widespread overall, although important barriers for some groups. A striking finding is that 45% of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of narrow policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation.
In the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis, large shares of working-age individuals in Spain either did not work or only to a limited extent. As the employment rate bottomed out in 2013, 30% were without employment during the entire year, and a further 15% had weak labour-market attachment, working only a fraction of the year, or on restricted working hours. This paper applies a novel method for measuring and visualising employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour-market attachment, using household micro-data. It first develops indicators to quantify employment obstacles under three broad headings: (i) work-related capabilities, (ii) incentives, and (iii) employment opportunities. It then uses these indicators in conjunction with a statistical clustering approach to identify unobserved (“latent”) groups of individuals facing similar combinations of barriers. The resulting typology of labour-market difficulties provides insights on the most pressing policy priorities in supporting different groups into employment. A detailed policy discussion illustrates how these empirical results can inform people-centred assessments of existing labour-market integration measures and of key challenges across different policy areas and institutions. The most common employment obstacles in Spain were a lack of work experience, low education and skill levels, and scarce job opportunities. Although financial disincentives, health limitations and care responsibilities were less widespread overall, they remained important barriers for some groups. A striking finding is that 45% of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of narrow policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation.
Open unemployment and joblessness in Switzerland are low compared to OECD standards. Yet a comparatively high proportion of working-age individuals remain weakly attached to the labour market, with unstable jobs, or with limited working hours. As an initial step towards a possible in-depth project, this Faces of Joblessness feasibility study provides insight into the nature and incidence of the structural barriers that are likely to prevent individuals from fully engaging in employment and speculates on their possible links with underutilized employment potential. It shows that lack of recent work experience and substantial non-labour or partner income are two key employment barriers in Switzerland. Partner income can be a barrier for women in particular and might be one of the reasons why many women leave stable employment at childbearing age, alongside low supply and high cost of early childhood education and care programs. Workers over 60 also represent a significant underutilized employment potential, as many have taken early retirement. Non-EU migrant are particularly exposed to potential labour market difficulties at younger age, and many of them have low levels of education, poor professional skills or limited work experience. This study also suggests that many jobless are confronted with complex and inter-related employment obstacles.