Unemployment - Nature, Challenges and Policy Responses

This book brings together research on the issue of unemployment with a focus on its nature, causes, and the strategies that are currently being utilized in various jurisdictions to combat it. The issue is complex and multidimensional and is a serious challenge in both developing and developed countries. The chapters in the book highlight in a nuanced way the key theoretical aspects of the problem, the attempts that have been made in specific countries to measure its extent, the shortcomings of these efforts, and better metrics that can be applied to analyze it. This is important because measurement of unemployment is a critical step in successfully formulating and targeting policies that can be effective in remedying it. An important strength of the book is its empirical orientation and its illumination of aspects that are easy to gloss over, such as people with disabilities who are a valuable and underutilized resource but who are often ignored in the discourse on development and labor markets. Furthermore, the book addresses critical emerging issues such as the implications of globalization and social and technological change on unemployment. The book is rich in the breadth of policies presented, thus making it particularly useful to diverse audiences such as legislators, academic researchers, policymakers, and students of economics, development, public policy, and project design and management.