Rutkowski, Jan

Person:
Rutkowski, Jan

Global Practice on Social Protection and Labor

Fields of Specialization

Labor economics

Departments

Global Practice on Social Protection and Labor

Last updated: January 31, 2023

Biography

Jan Rutkowski is a Lead Economist at the World Bank, Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice. He works on labor market issues in different parts of the world and has contributed to World Bank projects in jobs, employment, poverty, and skills. Rutkowski has advised governments on labor market reforms in a number of transition economies of Europe and Central Asia. His recent analytical work includes studies on labor market performance and policies. He co-authored the report Enhancing Job Opportunities: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (World Bank 2005), wrote a chapter on the demand for skills for the World Bank (2012) report Skills, not just Diplomas. Managing Education for Results in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and contributed to the Vietnam Development Report. Since 2014, Rutkowski has been working on labor issues in the Philippines, leading the team that produced the 2016 Philippine Labor Market Review: Employment and Poverty.

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Employment and Poverty in the Philippines
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-12) Rutkowski, Jan J.
This study analyzes labor market performance in the Philippines from the perspective of workers’ welfare. It argues that pervasive in-work poverty is the main challenge facing labor policy. Poverty is primarily due to low earning capacity of the poor and to their limited access to regular and productive jobs. Behind these are the two interrelated root causes of in-work poverty—low education of the poor, and the scarcity of productive job opportunities. The labor market is segmented into “good” and “bad” jobs, with the poor working in the latter. They hold jobs that are informal, temporary or casual, and low-paid. Widespread informality means that the poor neither benefit from the minimum wage policy nor from employment protection legislation. They do not benefit from wage growth either, because their bargaining power is weak. “Good” jobs are so few, especially in rural areas, that even better educated workers are often forced to take unskilled jobs and work as low-paid laborers. The reduction of in-work poverty hinges on removing constraints to gainful employment in both supply side (better education and skills) and demand side (better jobs). It is critical that the young poor have improved access to quality education, and be equipped with skills required in the modern sector of the economy. But in parallel, better jobs need to be created, which can be attained from the growth of the formal and higher value added sector of the economy. The process of structural transformation should be supported by effective labor policy. Labor regulations need to be made simpler and more flexible to facilitate the reallocation of labor from less to more productive activities, and from informal to formal sector. Targeted training programs have the potential to address the problem of low skills among the poor workers, especially the young ones. Such programs should be developed on a pilot basis and expanded if proven to be cost-effective.
Labor Market Observatories: Critical Success Factors
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03) de Paz, Carmen; Rutkowski, Jan; Levin, Victoria
Labor Market Observatories (LMOs) are institutions that help guide job seekers and students, intermediaries, policymakers, training institutions, as well as investors and employers with labor market trends and guidance to build better careers.
Developing Socioemotional Skills for the Philippines' Labor Market
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017-09-22) Acosta, Pablo; Igarashi, Takiko; Olfindo, Rosechin; Rutkowski, Jan
While the Philippines has achieved remarkable progress in raising the education level of its labor force, the standard proxy for educational attainment—years of formal schooling—is increasingly inadequate as a measure of workforce skills. About one-third of employers report being unable to fill vacancies due to lack of applicants with the requisite skills. Most of these “missing skills” are socioemotional skills,” also known as “non-cognitive skills”, “soft skills” or “behavioral skills.” Emerging international evidence suggests that socioemotional skills are increasingly crucial to the types of jobs being created by the global economy. The following study presents new evidence from employer and household surveys on the role of socioemotional skills in the Philippine labor market. The analysis reveals that: • Two-thirds of employers report difficulty in finding workers with adequate work ethics or appropriate interpersonal and communications skills. Firm-based training increasingly focuses on socioemotional skills. • The more educated and employed workers tend to score higher on measures of grit, decision-making, agreeableness, and extroversion. • Socioemotional skills are associated with an increase in average daily earnings, in particular for women, young workers, less-educated workers, and those employed in the service sector. • Higher levels of socioemotional skills are also correlated with a greater probability of being employed, having completed secondary education, and pursuing tertiary education. Studies suggest that primary school is the optimal age for shaping socioemotional skills, but the Philippines’ elementary education curriculum devotes limited resources to their development. Schools continue to be judged solely by students’ performance in cognitive achievement tests, but not on soft-skills competencies, and teachers are not appropriately trained to foster the development of them. Finally, interventions targeting workers entering the labor force can also effectively bolster their socioemotional skills, complementing effects to improve labor-market information and vocational counseling.
Addressing Labor Market Duality in Croatia: A Single Employment Contract?
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-06) Oriolo, Claudia; Rutkowski, Jan J.; Tomic, Iva; Madzarevic-Sujster, Sanja
Most of the newly created jobs in Croatia are temporary jobs. This contributes to labor market duality: the growing divide between employees with secure, permanent jobs (referred to as insiders) and those with precarious, temporary jobs (referred to as outsiders). Dual labor market is inefficient from both the social and economic perspective. It contributes to inequality, and potentially slows down productivity growth. This Note considers policy measures to address labor market duality. It focuses on the proposal of a Single Employment Contract. By design, the single employment contract eliminates the divide between permanent and temporary contracts. All employment contracts are open-ended with employment protection increasing with seniority. Single Employment Contract is more flexible than existing permanent contracts, but provides workers with more protection than temporary contracts.
Skilling Up Vietnam : Preparing the Workforce for a Modern Market Economy
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2014-06-17) Badiani-Magnusson, Reena; Bodewig, Christian; Macdonald, Kevin; Newhouse, David; Rutkowski, Jan
Education has played an important role in making Vietnam a development success story over the last 20 years. In the 1990s and early 2000s Vietnam experienced rapid economic growth. The accelerated growth was driven predominantly by productivity increases that came in the wake of a rapid shift of employment from low-productivity agriculture to higher-productivity nonfarm jobs. Vietnam's economy began to industrialize and modernize. Poverty fell dramatically. And education played an enabling role. Vietnam's committed effort to promote access to primary education for all and to ensure its quality through centrally set minimum quality standards has contributed to the country's reputation for having a young, well-educated workforce. Results from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and new evidence from an adult skills survey presented in this book show that literacy and numeracy among Vietnam's youth and young urban adult workforce are strong and exceed those of even some wealthier countries. Despite its clear progress, Vietnam is facing new challenges. The pace of economic growth and the reallocation of jobs away from agriculture have slowed in recent years. Rather than productivity improvements, capital investments have become the main source of economic growth, but this model is not sustainable for ensuring continued rapid economic growth. The size of its workforce is still expanding, but its youth population is shrinking, which means that Vietnam cannot continue to rely on the size of its workforce for continued success. Instead, it needs to focus on making its workforce more productive and on alleviating skills barriers to labor mobility.
Demand for Skills: Main Results of the Azerbaijan STEP Employer Survey
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-01-12) Rutkowski, Jan J.
This note summarizes the main findings of the STEP Employer Skills Survey carried out in Azerbaijan in 2013. The note argues that there is a skills shortage in Azerbaijan. Azeri employers claim that it is difficult to find workers with required skills. The shortage is particularly pronounced in the case of modern, innovative firms, which tend to required more advanced skills. The education system does not meet the needs of the majority of employers. In particular, it does not equip young workers with the practical skills that are required in the workplace, and with knowledge that is up-to-date. The note finds that employers seek not only technical, job-specific skills but also cognitive skills (such as literacy, numeracy and problem solving) and adequate socio-behavioural skills (such as communication, teamwork, leadership and ability to work independently). Conscientiousness stands out as a personality trait that is critical for employability. Unfortunately, many young job applicants lack the skills demanded by employers. The key employability skills that young workers are most frequently lacking include job-specific technical skills, problem solving skills, communication, teamwork and leadership skills. Hence, the skills gap refers not only to technical skills but also to higher-order cognitive skills and socio-behavioural skills. By their nature, these results show subjective perceptions of employers. And these perceptions reflect not only the objective conditions, but also employers’ expectations regarding worker skills that may be excessive. Nonetheless the results signal a skill problem in Azerbaijan, and employers’ criticism of the quality and relevance of education should not be too easily disregarded. The survey’s results strongly suggest that the quality of education needs to be improved, and the education system needs to be more responsive to labor market needs in order to support growth and modernization of the Azerbaijan’s economy.
Skills Employers Seek: Results of the Armenia STEP Employer Skills Survey
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-12-19) Rutkowski, Jan J.
The note presents the results of the STEP employer skills survey. The survey was implemented in early 2013 using a stratified sample of 354 firms. The firms were stratified by activity and firm size, with a booster sample of large firms. Post-stratification weights were used to make the results representative of firm size. The structure of the sample by activity, size and some other characteristics is presented in annex one. The small sample size implies that the estimates are subject to a wide margin of error. This problem is mitigated by the fact it is qualitative rather than quantitative results that are of primary interest. One should bear in mind that the survey’s results represent subjective perceptions, and as such should be taken with a grain of salt (for example, the employers may express exaggerated views). There are some additional limitations resulting from the survey’s design. It uses a pre-determined list of skills, which may or may not correspond with the skills that employers themselves are concerned about. Moreover, the skills are generic in nature, and not occupation specific. Skills are divided into groups (see below), and it is not possible to compare the importance of specific skills between groups (only within groups). Finally, the survey looks at skills of only two types of workers, highly skilled college graduates, and less skilled high school graduates (see below). These two groups are very heterogeneous, with a substantial variation in the skill set demanded from workers within a group. The upshot is that the survey’s results are very general in nature and as such are meant to highlight the importance of the skills gap problem, rather than to examine skill gaps specific to different types of workers and occupations. Put differently, the results are intended to inform the public debate on skills and education policy, rather than to identify specific skills-related problems. The note is structured as follows. Section one provides background information on the skill structure of employment, and presents evidence on a skills shortage in Armenia. Section two is central. It examines the demand for skills and the skills gap. It identifies skills that determine the employers hiring decisions, and skills that young job applicant most frequently lack. Section three focuses on firm organized training as a way of coping with a skills shortage. Section four concludes and discusses policy implications of the analysis.
Workforce Skills in the Eyes of the Employers: Results of the Georgia STEP Employer Skills Survey
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-11-29) Rutkowski, Jan
The objective of this note is to present the results of the recently completed employer skills survey, and to discuss their policy implications. The analysis finds that there is a skills shortage in Georgia despite high unemployment. It is difficult for employers, especially in the modern sector, to find workers with the required skills. Employers demand not only ‘hard’ technical skills, but also ‘soft’ social and behavioural skills (such as openness to experience) as well as higher-order cognitive skills (such as problem solving and creative thinking). And these are the skills that young Georgians often lack. Box one summarizes the main results of the analysis and shows the core employability skills that young workers lack most often. The note is organized as follows. Section one looks at the supply of and demand for skills, and shows that, despite high unemployment, there is a skills shortage. Section two examines the demand for skills more closely. It identifies skills that determine the employers hiring decisions, and skills that young job applicant most frequently lack. Section three focuses on firm organized training as a way of coping with a skills shortage. Section four concludes and discusses policy implications of the analysis.
Balancing Flexibility and Worker Protection: Understanding Labor Market Duality in Poland
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-10) Gatti, Roberta V.; Goraus, Karolina Marta; Morgandi, Matteo; Korczyc, Ewa Joanna; Rutkowski, Jan J.
Skills, Not Just Diplomas : Managing Education for Results in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
(World Bank, 2012) Murthi, Mamta; Sondergaard, Lars; Abu-Ghaida, Dina; Bodewig, Christian; Rutkowski, Jan
The countries of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) are currently emerging from the deepest recession suffered by any developing region. Post-crisis conditions are very different from those of preceding years. Financial resources are more limited and more expensive, and export growth is restrained by potentially slower growth in destination countries. Restoring and sustaining growth in this context require reforms that boost competitiveness and increase labor productivity. Such reforms are all the more important given the shrinking of the working-age population in many countries of the region. This book uses a range of different data sources to argue that the skills problem in the ECA region relates more to the quality and relevance of the education provided in ECA countries than to problems of access. A central argument of the book is that ministries of education are constrained in a number of ways from effectively managing their education and training sectors. The three most important and interrelated impediments to improving quality and relevance are the lack of systematic data on key skills-related performance issues (i.e., how much students are learning and whether they are finding jobs after they graduate), the legacy of central planning, and inefficient use of resources. Lack of data on student learning and employment outcomes makes it difficult for education ministries to address the legacy of central planning, which emphasizes centralized management based on inputs. Ministries of education in the region continue to micromanage the sector using detailed norms and regulations. This input-oriented style of management leads to the inefficient use of resources and results in a rigid education sector not the type of flexible sector needed by ECA to create modern, skilled workforces. This book highlights how these constraints manifest themselves and then presents ways of overcoming them, relying on the experience of ECA countries that have successfully addressed them, together with international experience. Recommendations are presented in separate chapters for pre-university, tertiary, and adult education.