Person:
Strokova, Victoria
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Labor economics,
Social protection and labor,
Employment policy,
Jobs
Degrees
Departments
Jobs Cross-Cutting Solutions Area
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Victoria Strokova is an economist in the Jobs Cross-Cutting Solutions Area at the World Bank since September 2014, where she leads several jobs diagnostics and country engagements focused on identifying jobs challenges and solutions. Previously she worked in the Social Protection and Labor Units in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region, which she joined as a Young Professional in September 2013, and the Europe and Central Asia Region, where she worked as a consultant for three years. Her analytical work and policy dialogue focused on the issues of social safety nets spending and performance, activation policies and work incentives, and political economy of transfers and taxes. She has coauthored numerous country-specific research and policy papers and contributed to several poverty assessments, public expenditure reviews, and regional reports (including “Activation and Smart Safety Nets in the Western Balkans” and “Efficiency and Equity in Social Sector Spending in EU New Member States”). Victoria has a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago, where she trained extensively in quantitative methods, including econometrics and program evaluation.
Publication Search Results
1 - 7 of 7
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Publication
Social Safety Nets in Europe and Central Asia : Preparing for Crisis, Adapting to Demographic Change, and Promoting Employability
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-04)Social safety nets in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region responded to protect people's incomes during the global recession, especially in countries where systems were developed before the crisis. As population's age and labor forces shrink, the elderly will increasingly rely on general revenues to supplement contributory pensions, competing with assistance for other vulnerable groups. Social safety nets that link to employment and other services can help people transition from reliance on social transfers to employability. Countries should not wait to confront these challenges. To further strengthen social safety nets, governments in ECA should consolidate and harmonize benefits, invest in systems improvements for greater efficiency, link social assistance and employment services, and actively communicate these reforms to their populations. -
Publication
Social Assistance and Labor Market Programs in Latin America : Methodology and Key Findings from the Social Protection Database
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-06)How much do countries spend on social protection? Do social protection programs cover all poor people? And, how well are they targeted? It is notoriously hard to find comprehensive cross-country data on social protection programs which can help answer such questions and allow to benchmark social protection systems. The World Bank s Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Social Protection Database attempts to fill these knowledge gaps by collecting and systematizing data on social protection programs from both administrative sources and household surveys. The data assembled provides a powerful tool to study trends and analyze program performance as well as benchmark countries social protection systems. We found both expected and unexpected trends in spending on social protection and coverage of social protection programs across countries. Between 2000 and 2010 expenditure on social assistance nearly tripled. At a program level, conditional cash transfer programs ceased to dominate social assistance spending, with the exception of Mexico, and have come second to social pension spending in Brazil, Uruguay and Chile. Labor market programs remain small and fragmented, but show much more counter-cyclical patterns. -
Publication
Skills and Jobs: Lessons Learned and Options for Collaboration
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-05)The accumulation of human capital through the acquisition of knowledge and skills is recognized as central for economic development. More-educated workers not only have better employment opportunities, they earn more and have more stable and rewarding jobs. They are also more adaptable and mobile. Workers who acquire more skills make other workers and capital more productive and, within the firm, they facilitate the adaptation, adoption, and ultimately invention of new technologies. This is crucial for economic diversification, productivity growth, and ultimately raising the living standards of living of the population. The structure of the note is as follows. First, it examines the different types of market failures, and subsequently reviews the role that governments have played in training systems around the world. Finally it offers a set of proposals for reforming and improving these systems to improve labor market outcomes. -
Publication
Sustaining Employment and Wage Gains in Brazil: A Skills and Jobs Agenda
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015-10-15)In the past 15 years, employment, labor market participation, and wages have grown significantly in Brazil. Improved labor market outcomes have been the main drivers of reductions in poverty and inequality. But job creation is already slowing. Continued progress in employment and labor earnings will depend on the country’s ability to achieve a first critical goal: raising labor productivity. Continued improvements in the livelihoods of the poor will depend on the country’s ability to achieve a second critical goal: connecting the poor to better, more productive jobs. Sustaining Employment and Wage Gains in Brazil: A Skills and Jobs Agenda analyzes Brazil’s labor markets and identifies the key challenges involved in sustaining job creation, wage growth, and poverty reduction. The book discusses reforms of program design and implementation in the policy areas of skills development, unemployment insurance and other labor market regulations, active labor market programs, and productive inclusion programs. The report reviews existing interventions in these four policy areas and proposes an agenda of incremental policy changes that could more effectively support the two critical goals. It also describes specific opportunities in each policy area to better coordinate programs with private sector demands and across policies, while also adapting them to improve the results for the urban and rural poor. An essential first step will be to strengthen monitoring and evaluation systems to measure results by tracking the effects of programs on labor market outcomes and using that information to inform program expansion. -
Publication
More, Better, and More Inclusive Industrial Jobs in Ethiopia: Summary of Evidence Base and Knowledge Gaps
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-09-29)This note aims to shed light on how Ethiopia’s efforts towards export-led industrialization can create more, better, and more inclusive jobs. It first reviews the evidence on how global value chain participation and industrialization have led to improved employment outcomes across the globe, before turning to the evidence on Ethiopia’s industrialization experience so far. Significant progress in building this evidence base has been made in recent years, including more recently through different analytical outputs produced under the World Bank Group’s analytical program on industrial labor, highlighted in this note. However, significant knowledge gaps remain. The note concludes by outlining ideas for a future research agenda on industrial labor in Ethiopia, focusing on key areas for policy-oriented research. -
Publication
Tajikistan Jobs Diagnostic: Strategic Framework for Jobs
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-01)Tajikistan’s economy is not creating sufficient jobs for its rapidly growing workforce, in particular its burgeoning youth population. As a result, its most valuable asset – human capital – is largely underutilized. Although remittance-driven growth since the early 2000s has led to a steep decline in the poverty rate, poverty remains high. Strong economic growth in the last decade has not resulted from structural transformation that can lead to sustained improvements in the standard of living. Jobs have been created, but these are mainly in low-productivity activities, often in the informal sector. In addition, there are major inequalities in terms of labor market outcomes between population groups and across regions. The report, “Tajikistan Jobs Diagnostic: Strategic Framework for Jobs”, analyzes the main challenges the country faces in creating jobs at the macro, firm, and household levels. It also sets out policy recommendations to enable the country to create more and better jobs that are also more inclusive of women, youth, and other vulnerable population groups. -
Publication
Kazakhstan Labor Market Outcomes: Achievements and Remaining Challenges
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016)This note presents a detailed analysis of jobs in Kazakhstan at the macro and individual levels, including regional and socio-economic disparities. At the macro level, it includes a diagnostic of the links between economic growth, jobs, and productivity across different economic sectors. At the individual level, the analysis focuses on labor market outcomes of women and men, young and adult workers, residents of urban and rural areas, and people in the bottom 40 percent of the consumption distribution. It also presents a detailed analysis of determinants of employment and wages. The rest of the note is organized as follows: section two discusses the relationship between economic growth, jobs, and productivity across different economic sectors. Section three discusses demographic trends and overall labor market outcomes. Section four focuses on assessing spatial and sectoral differences in access to jobs, including for those in the bottom 40 percent. Section five concludes with a discussion of challenges and broad policy implications.