Person:
Sánchez Puerta, Maria Laura
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Global Practice on Social Protection and Labor
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Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Maria Laura Sanchez Puerta is a senior economist in the Jobs Group of the Social Protection and Labor Global Practice at the World Bank, where she specializes on the intersection of labor and development economics. She currently leads the jobs and skills agenda and co-leads the global STEP initiative including household and employer surveys measuring adult skills in 17 countries. She prepared one of the first Job Diagnostics at the country level and contributed to an innovative, multi-sector work program on jobs in Kenya.
Maria Laura’s research includes cognitive and non-cognitive skills and labor outcomes; design, implementation, and evaluation of active labor market programs; income mobility in Latin America; informality and labor market segmentation; and the effects of globalization on working conditions. Maria Laura has also supported analytical and operational work in Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, El Salvador, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Rwanda and Tunisia.
She holds a PhD in Economics from Cornell University and joined IZA as a Research Fellow in 2007.
Publication Search Results
1 - 10 of 16
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Publication
Improving Access to Jobs and Earnings Opportunities : The Role of Activation and Graduation Policies in Developing Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-03-01)Throughout the developing world there is a growing demand for advice on the design of policies to facilitate access of the most vulnerable individuals to jobs, while reducing their dependency from public income support schemes. Even though these policies are common to both the activation and graduation agendas, a separation is needed as the graduation of beneficiaries out of poverty is a much more ambitious agenda. This paper proposes a simple policy framework highlighting the most common barriers for productive employment. It also reviews the topic of incentive compatibility of income support schemes and employment support programs that are used to address them. The paper finds that, especially in middle income countries, activation and active labor market programs play an important role connecting individuals to jobs and improving earnings opportunities. In low income countries, these programs are far from being a panacea to graduate beneficiaries out of poverty. Furthermore, only scant evidence is available on the pathways to graduation and significant knowledge gaps remain. More cross-disciplinary research is needed to strengthen the evidence base and develop recommendations for different contexts and capacity levels. -
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Personal Opinions about the Social Security System and Informal Employment : Evidence from Bulgaria
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-09)In this paper the authors analyze the relationship between personal opinions about the social security system and levels of informal employment using data from a recent household survey carried out in Bulgaria. They compare different indicators of job informality, focusing on the lack of social security affiliation as the main indicator. The results suggest that low value is attached to social security affiliation and that knowledge of the social security system is very limited. As a consequence, many workers seem to choose informal jobs because they think that the benefits from being affiliated with the social security system are too low compared with the costs. On the other hand, being affiliated does not seem to matter in terms of overall job satisfaction. -
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STEP Skills Measurement Surveys : Innovative Tools for Assessing Skills
(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-07)The Skills Towards Employability and Productivity (STEP) program was designed to better understand the interplay between skills on the one hand and employability and productivity on the other. The STEP program developed survey instruments tailored to collect data on skills in low- and middle-income country contexts. The present note is a reference document for readers seeking background information on the STEP surveys and for users of the data, which is publicly available through the World Bank s Microdata Catalog. The note describes the design of the survey instruments and the constructs measured as well as the technical standards and implementation protocols adopted to ensure data quality and comparability across countries. It also provides guidance to users for the construction of aggregated skills indicators and for the use of the reading literacy assessment data. -
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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. -
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From Ghana to America: The Skill Content of Jobs and Economic Development
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-01-31)There is a growing body of literature exploring the skill content ofjobs. This article contributes to this research by using data on thetask content of occupations from developing countries, instead of US data as most existing studies do. It finds that US-based indexes do not provide a fair approximation of the levels, changes and drivers of the routine cognitive and non-routine manual skill content of jobs in developing countries. The authors also uncover three new stylized facts. First, while developed countries tend to have jobsmore intensive in non-routine cognitive skills than developing ones, income (both in growth and levels) is not associated with the skill content of jobs once other factors are accounted for. Second,while ICT adoption is linked to job de-routinization, international trade is an off setting force. Last, ICT adoption is correlated with lower employment growth in countries with a high share of occupations intensive in routine tasks. -
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Kenya: Capturing Skills Requirements and Assessing Skills Gaps in the Modern Economy
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-05-01)In Kenya, skills constraints are reported to have a detrimental impact on job creation and labor market outcomes. Employers have reported concerns with the level and relevance of a broad set of socio-emotional skills and cognitive skills amongst job applicants and recently hired workers. These skill gaps affect firms' competitiveness (ability to grow and create more jobs), as well as productivity (better wages). Evidence of job dissatisfaction on both the demand and supply side suggests that workers are not being matched with the right jobs. Three policy implication are derived from these results. First, worker mobility and resilience to new challenges requires the continuous upgrading of skills through on-the-job and other training opportunities. Second, with the projected population growth rate (for young people) there is an urgent need to foster high productivity jobs, as well as jobs that are inclusive (to vulnerable populations). Third, in order to address the skills mismatch, comprehensive labor market information is needed to guide students and jobseekers by providing unemployment data, job vacancies and the level of wages by occupation type. -
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Employer Survey Snapshot 2016: Highlights from Six Low and Middle-Income Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016)The Employer Survey Snapshot features a descriptive analysis of the data collected during the first two waves of the Skills Towards Employment and Productivity (STEP) Employer Surveys. Key objectives of the Snapshot are (1) to explain the motivation and relevance behind the implementation of employer skills surveys and (2) to highlight some of the observed cross-country patterns from six participating countries, namely, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and China (Yunnan Province). The Snapshot provides information on how employers view jobs mismatch and how they identify and value worker skills sets. In addition, it includes insights from innovative firms and examples of training provisions. A section on survey methodology has also been included as an annex. -
Publication
Accounting for Mismatch in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Measurement, Magnitudes, and Explanations
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016-08-23)To stimulate economic advancement, low- and middle-income countries need well-educated and trained workforces to fill the types of skilled jobs that drive economic growth. Improving educational quality and attainment and providing better training are all rightly put forth as policy recommendations to leverage economic growth and job creation. However, new findings based on large scale surveys of adult skills from the World Bank Group’s STEP (Skills toward Employment and Productivity) Skills Measurement Program suggest that many workers are overqualified for their current jobs (based on the education those jobs require). The results of this study suggest that countries may not reap as much benefit from their investments in quality education and training if weak job creation leaves workers’ skills underutilized. Most of the literature on mismatch focuses on higher-income countries and rates of over-education among college graduates. Accounting for Mismatch in Low- and Middle-Income Countries uses new STEP Skills Survey data from 12 low- and middle-income countries, representing a range of economic and educational and training climates, to better understand the scope and patterns of education and skills mismatch. STEP collects information not only on workers’ level of education and employment status, but also on the types, frequency, and durations of tasks they carry out at their jobs as well as some of the cognitive skills they use. The study also explores additional factors such as gender, health, career stage, and participation in the informal labor sector that may help explain the degree of mismatch rates. The study’s findings indicate that over-education is common in low and middle income countries with both lower and higher rates of educational attainment. There is also evidence that over-educated tertiary workers do not use all of their skills, potentially wasting valuable human capital and educational resources. Aimed at policy makers, business and education leaders, and employers, Accounting for Mismatch in Low- and Middle-Income Countries suggests that job growth must go hand-in-hand with investments in education and training. -
Publication
Taking Stock of Programs to Develop Socioemotional Skills: A Systematic Review of Program Evidence
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016-08-01)This book represents a systematic review of the documented impacts of programs aimed at fostering socio-emotional skills in developed and developing countries. It uses a life-cycle approach to organize the findings from rigorous evaluations of more than 80 programs. This includes programs for toddlers and young children before primary school, programs for students enrolled in formal education, and programs targeted at the out-of-school population. The book develops a conceptual framework that helps to identify the program characteristics and participants’ profiles associated with a range of program outcomes. These include health-related, behavioral, academic or cognitive, and economic-related outcomes. The review finds that few of the programs studied focus exclusively on the development of socio-emotional skills. In fact, most efforts to develop socio-emotional skills are embedded within innovative education and training curricula, as well as pedagogical and classroom practices. Evidence shows that programs are particularly effective when targeted to highly vulnerable populations and, in particular, to young children. Overall, findings indicate that high-quality programs for young children tend to foster cognitive abilities in the short run and to impact socio-emotional skills over the long run. Programs for students enrolled in formal education (primary and secondary levels) show positive and significant impacts on the outcomes reviewed. The most successful of these programs are implemented school-wide and follow the SAFE approach: that is, they are appropriately sequenced, active, focused, and explicit. Finally, the review finds that programs for out-of-school children and youth are usually designed as a means of achieving immediate labor market outcomes (e.g., job-placement, formal employment, and higher wages). While some of these programs show positive and statistically significant impacts on socio-emotional skills, the impacts tend to be small. -
Publication
Measuring Skills Demanded by Employers: Skills Toward Employment and Productivity (STEP)
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-05-01)Economic growth depends on skills being put to productive use. In recent years, research on labor outcomes and education shows that there is a substantial mismatch between the supply and demand for skills around the world (Cappelli, 2014: McIntosh and Vignoles, 2001). This mismatch affects more than just wages or individual job satisfaction. Skills mismatches have an impact on productivity and growth at both the firm level and the macro-economic level (Quintini, 2014). Reports show that firms around the world consider skills challenges to be an impediment to the operation and development of their business. A cause for further concern is that this constraint seems to be disproportionately affecting the more dynamic and innovative employers, signifying a potentially negative impact on job creation and technological progress (World Bank, 2012).