Inventory of policy responses to the financial and economic crisis

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 eight is international labor standards. The last section summarizes key findings and proposes an agenda for future work.