Topic: Did Indonesia's boom leave its poor behind? Adverse labor market trends in the post-crisis era
Speaker : Ian Coxhead (Professor and Chair, Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Day/date : Tuesday, 15 April 2014
Time : 10:00am - 12:00pm
Venue : The SMERU Research Institute, Jl. Cikini Raya No.10A, Jakarta
Abstract:
The Indonesian economy has enjoyed a decade of rapid growth, fueled by resource exports and domestic consumer spending. Poverty, during this time, has declined to historically low levels. However, data from the labor market tell a strikingly dissonant story of stagnating real wages, declining returns to schooling, and rising dependence on informal employment, most especially for younger workers. We quantify these trends and use the results to motivate questions about the depth and sustainability of the observed poverty decline, its association with rising inequality, and the role of post-crisis policies affecting trade, the macroeconomy and labor markets.
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