Inventory of Policy Responses to the Financial and Economic Crisis

Abstract

This report presents an overview of general findings from International Labor Office (ILO) and World Bank (WB) database. The report only uses a fraction of this large and rich database and is an invitation for researchers and practitioners to use the data for more in-depth research, which can be helpful for policy makers in identifying effective approaches to maintain and promote employment, while protecting living standards during times of crisis. The goal of this report is to take stock of policy responses during the recent economic and financial crisis and suggest areas where policy-makers should focus to improve their capacity to respond to future shocks. The report has following sections: section one gives introduction. Section two begins with an overview of macroeconomic and sector policies. Section three presents analysis of labor market policies to promote labor demand. Section four presents programs to facilitate job matching and preserve skills. Section five is social protection. Section six is minimum wages. Section seven is social dialogue. Section 8 is international labor standards. The last section summarizes key findings and proposes an agenda for future work.

A principios de 2010, la OIT y el Banco Mundial decidieron aunar esfuerzos para realizar una encuesta sobre medidas de política adoptadas para hacer frente a la crisis, sobre la base de la estructura del Pacto Mundial para el Empleo. El presente Catálogo de políticas ha sido ideado como ejercicio pedagógico y didáctico. Expone el repertorio de medidas tomadas para hacer frente a la crisis y presenta además una base de datos con un repertorio de políticas puestas en práctica durante el punto máximo de la crisis financiera, en los años 2008 a 2010 que ofrece una herramienta analítica importantísima para conocer mejor a qué políticas recurrieron los países, qué intervenciones parecen haber dado mejor resultado, y cómo incide este aspecto en el diseño de los conjuntos de políticas para abordar eventuales crisis.