David Robalino

Inequality and entrenched poverty has been decreasing in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, due in significant part to expansion of social protection programs within the region. Innovations such as well-targeted conditional cash transfer programs and noncontributory pensions or health insurance systems have been adopted by several countries. Yet several challenges remain. The majority of informal sector workers lack access to social protection; programs tend to be fragmented and operate with little or no coordination; and redistributive arrangements are non-transparent and can distort labor markets by inducing informality, lowering labor participation, or producing longer unemployment spells.From Right to Reality: Incentives, Labor Markets, and the Challenge of Universal Social Protection in Latin America and the Caribbean addresses these challenges in a thorough yet accessible manner. Building on careful, detailed analysis of a wealth of data, this book takes stock of current social protection systems in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, highlighting their interaction with labor markets. The book presents an in-depth assessment of the main social protection programs including pensions, health, unemployment insurance, active labor market interventions, and safety net transfers. A central theme is that a well-functioning social protection system must take into account both the realities of labor markets, including high levels of informal sector employment where governments are unable to impose compulsory social insurance, and the effects of policies on the behavior of their beneficiaries, employers, and of service providers. Of interest to policy makers, academics, and practitioners, From Right to Reality presents practical recommendations to expand the coverage of social protection programs, improve their design, and create the conditions for the creation of more and better jobs.

This white paper focuses on the policy interventions made to help people manage risk, uncertainty and the losses from events whose impacts are channelled primarily through the labour market.

Tunisians are striving for the opportunity to realize their potential and aspirations in a country that is rich in both human and physical capital, but whose recent economic growth has failed to create enough opportunities in the form of good and productive jobs. This report highlights the main barriers that hinder the Tunisian labor market from providing income, protection, and prosperity to its citizens and proposes a set of labor policies that could facilitate the creation of better, more inclusive, and more productive jobs. The weak economic performance and insufficient and low-quality job creation in Tunisia is primarily the result of an economic environment permeated by distortions, barriers to competition, and excessive red tape, including in the labor market. This has resulted in the creation of a insufficient number of jobs, especially in the formal sector. To change this situation, policy makers need to address five strategic directives that can promote long-term inclusive growth and formality: foster competition; realign incentives, pay, and benefit packages in the public sector; move toward labor regulations that promote labor mobility and provide support to workers in periods of transition; enhance the productivity of informal workers through training and skills building; and reform existing social insurance systems and introduce new instruments to attain broader coverage.