What Induces Better Job Outcomes ? : The Structural and Policy Correlates of Employment and Salaried Work

Economic development follows different paths in different countries. Employment patterns also vary widely from country to country and over time, not only with respect to the rate of job creation, but also in terms of the types of jobs created and the types of workers finding jobs. There is increasing evidence of and attention to global challenges emerging along three dimensions of job creation in terms of quantity, quality and inclusiveness. The magnitude, persistence and multifaceted nature of these jobs challenges require a multi-pronged approach to create the conditions to support private sector job creation. Through a panel regression model, this paper investigates the determinants of two jobs outcomes at the country level: total employment, and the share of wage employment in total employment. Wage employment tends to be more stable and less precarious than non-wage work, and many wage jobs are formal in the sense that they are covered by employment protections and social insurance. To account for inclusiveness, the paper examines variations in both jobs measures for different demographic groups of female, male and youth. In this way, the paper explores the potential role of policies to achieve inclusive labor market outcomes that deliver value to the economy and to society.