Jobs and Societies

  Jobs are more than income. 

Employment can shape mental and psychological welfare: evidence shows that jobs can affect individuals’ identity, self-worth, and sense of purpose, as well as bolster civic engagement and broader social cohesion. Generating jobs that fulfill the monetary and non monetary dimensions of well-being for all those willing and able to work should be a core societal aim. 

Jobs are the premier vehicle for poverty reduction. Econometric studies show that sect-oral

employment intensity plays an important role in turning growth into poverty reduction—that is, when growth generates jobs for most of the labor force, particularly the poor. For example, in 10 of 18 Latin American countries—as well as in Germany and the United States—more than half of past poverty reduction was due to jobs (World Bank 2013). 

But many jobs may not provide adequate income, can be frustrating or degrading, or even generate negative externalities and forms of exploitation. Low-productivity, low-quality jobs can keep people in poverty: between 54 and 63 percent of workers in Africa and Asia live on less than US$2/day. In other words, most poor people are poor workers. 

The gulf between aspiration and reality—between a good job as the first-best option and the lower quantity and quality of jobs available in practice—has sparked long-standing debates on the role of social protection in helping bridge the gap. A range of supply-side interventions have been devised for enhancing people’s employability and reducing their distance from labor market demand. Ensuing investments in human capital, skills, and intermediation have been and will remain key in the future. But against these efforts, labor demand has not always expanded, nor has the quality of jobs necessarily improved. This impasse has led to exploration of new avenues, including, among others, job guarantee programs and UBI itself. Chapter 2 discusses job guarantees in more detail.