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Poor people derive most of their income from work; however, there is insufficient understanding of the role of employment and earnings as a linkage between growth and poverty reduction, especially in low income countries. To provide inputs into the policy discussion on how to enhance poverty reduction through increased employment and earnings for given growth levels, this study explores this linkage in the case of Bangladesh. The study provides a background discussion of poverty, reform, and growth in Bangladesh, followed by an overview of the labor market: demographies, the institutional structure of the labor market, and the labor market indicators. A poverty profile of the labor market is developed, including a discussion of the income sources and a decomposition of poverty reduction and growth. Other issues discussed include rural versus urban conditions; men, women, and children in the labor market; self-employment and household employment; and socioeconomic inequalities.

Poor people derive most of their income from work; however, there is insufficient understanding of the role of employment and earnings as a linkage between growth and poverty reduction, especially in low income countries. With the objective of providing inputs into the policy discussion on how to enhance poverty reduction through increased employment and earnings for given growth levels, this study explores this linkage in the case of Madagascar using data from the national accounts and household surveys from the years 1999, 2001, and 2005, a period characterized among others by a short but severe crisis which started at the end of 2001 and the subsequent economic rebound. This report is part of a series of studies conducted in the context of the World Bank’s research framework aiming to improve the understanding of the linkages among growth, labor, and poverty reduction.

This study reports the results of a multi-site, parallel block randomized clinical trial to expand the previous findings regarding the implementation of Project SEARCH plus ASD Supports (PS + ASD) on employment outcomes upon graduation from high school. Participants were 156 individuals with significant impact from ASD between the ages of 18–21. There was a significant difference between treatment and control groups with 73.4% of the treatment group acquiring competitive employment at or above minimum wage by 1-year after graduation compared to 17% of the control group for whom data was provided. At 1-year, employed treatment group participants worked an average of 21.2 h per week (SD = 9) for a mean hourly wage of $9.61 per hour (SD = $1.55).Clinical Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT03560453.

This paper presents an analysis of the effects of public old-age support on individuals’ fertility decisions and on the long-term equilibrium in an overlapping generation economy with strategic bequest motives. Parents must pay their adult children at least the reservation wage to receive informal old-age support from them (individual rationality constraint). Formal old-age support is financed through wage taxes on children. The increased present value of formal old-age support tends to increase old-age utility, thereby decreasing the family support demand and decreasing savings for the old age. The increased wage tax reduces the opportunity cost of child-rearing time, thereby increasing the fertility rate. The effects of increased formal old-age support on per-worker capital and labor are indeterminate, as is the effect on the long-term lifetime utility of individuals. A strategic bequest motive might engender a higher fertility rate than that of the social optimum.

. The authors measure wage discrimination against disabled persons after controlling for unobserved disability‐related productivity differences. Using data for 11 European countries from the European Community Household Panel (1995–2001), they estimate wage equations for persons with disabilities hampering them in daily activities, for those not hampered, and for non‐disabled people. Most countries showed no relevant wage differential against disabled workers not so hampered, compared with non‐disabled workers. Where it existed, it related mainly to low productivity characteristics, not wage discrimination. However, compared with non‐disabled workers, disabled workers hampered in daily activities suffered from low productivity characteristics and wage discrimination.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the use of digital solutions in medical care, especially for patients in remote areas and those requiring regular medical care. However, internet access is essential for the implementation of digital health care. The digital divide is the unequal distribution of access to digital technology, and the first level digital divide encompasses structural barriers. Brazil, a country with economic inequality and uneven population distribution, faces challenges in achieving internet access for all. This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the first-level digital divide in Brazil, estimate the relationship between variables, and identify the challenges and opportunities for digital health care implementation. Data were retrieved from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics National Continuous House survey database, including demographic, health, and internet-related variables. Statistical analysis included 2-tailed t tests, chi-square, and multivariate logistic regression to assess associations between variables. Our analysis included 279,382 interviews throughout Brazil. The sample included more houses from the northeast (n=99,553) and fewer houses from the central west (n=30,804). A total of 223,386 (80.13%) of the interviewed population used the internet, with urban areas having higher internet access (187,671/212,109, 88.48%) than rural areas (35,715/67,077, 53.24%). Among the internet users, those interviewed who lived in urban houses, were women, were younger, and had higher income had a statistically higher prevalence (P<.001). Cell phones were the most common device used to access the internet (141,874/143,836, 98.63%). Reasons for not using the internet included lack of interest, knowledge, availability, and cost, with regional variations. The prevalence of internet access also varied among races, with 84,747 of 98,968 (85.63%) White respondents having access, compared to 22,234 of 28,272 (78.64%) Black respondents, 113,518 of 148,191 (76.6%) multiracial respondents, and 2887 of 3755 (76.88%) other respondents. In the southeast, central west, and south regions, the numbers of people with internet access were 49,790 of 56,298 (88.44%), 27,209 of 30,782 (88.39%), and 27,035 of 31,226 (86.58%), respectively, and in the north and northeast, 45,038 of 61,404 (73.35%) and 74,314 of 99,476 (74.7%). The income of internet users was twice the income of internet nonusers. Among those with diabetes-related limitations in daily activities, 945 of 2377 (39.75%) did not have internet access, and among those with daily activity restrictions, 1381 of 3644 (37.89%) did not have access. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, women (odds ratio [OR] 1.147, 95% CI 0.118-0.156; P<.001), urban households (OR 6.743, 95% CI 1.888-1.929; P<.001), and those earning more than the minimum wage (OR 2.087, 95% CI 0.716-0.756; P<.01) had a positive association with internet access. Brazil's diverse regions have different demographic distributions, house characteristics, and internet access levels, requiring targeted measures to address the first-level digital divide in rural areas and reduce inequalities in digital health solutions. Older people, poor, and rural populations face the greatest challenges in the first level digital divide in Brazil, highlighting the need to tackle the digital divide in order to promote equitable access to digital health care.

The U.S. labor force participation rate has declined since 2007, primarily because of population aging and ongoing trends that preceded the Great Recession. The labor force participation rate has evolved differently, and for different reasons, across demographic groups. A rise in school enrollment has largely offset declining labor force participation for young workers since the 1990s. Labor force participation has been declining for prime age men for decades, and about half of prime age men who are not in the labor force may have a serious health condition that is a barrier to working. Nearly half of prime age men who are not in the labor force take pain medication on any given day; and in nearly two-thirds of these cases, they take prescription pain medication. Labor force participation has fallen more in U.S. counties where relatively more opioid pain medication is prescribed, causing the problem of depressed labor force participation and the opioid crisis to become intertwined. The labor force participation rate has stopped rising for cohorts of women born after 1960. Prime age men who are out of the labor force report that they experience notably low levels of emotional well-being throughout their days, and that they derive relatively little meaning from their daily activities. Employed women and women not in the labor force, by contrast, report similar levels of subjective well-being; but women not in the labor force who cite a reason other than “home responsibilities” as their main reason report notably low levels of emotional well-being. During the past decade, retirements have increased by about the same amount as aggregate labor force participation has declined, and the retirement rate is expected to continue to rise. A meaningful rise in labor force participation will require a reversal in the secular trends affecting various demographic groups, and perhaps immigration reform.

Informal caregivers are people providing some type of unpaid, ongoing assistance to a person with a chronic illness or disability. Long-term care measures and policies cannot take place without taking into account the quantitatively crucial role played by informal caregivers. We use the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS), the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS), and the Study on Health and Ageing in Europe (SHARE) to measure the prevalence of informal caregivers in the European population, and analyze associated socio-demographic factors. This rate ranges between about 13 percent in Portugal and Spain, and more than 22 percent in Luxembourg, Belgium, and Denmark. It declines in older age groups and, on average, is lower in men than in women in all countries studied, and lower among the poorly educated compared to those with higher levels of education. However, large variance was observed in the average share of informal caregivers for most countries between the three surveys. Our findings, estimated through the three surveys, reveal common trends, but also a series of disparities. Additional research will be needed to enable policy makers to access a richer and more harmonized body of data, allowing them to adopt truly evidence-based and targeted policies and interventions in this field.

In the United States, employment outcomes for young adults with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are poor, with many unemployed, underemployed, or otherwise unable to achieve their potential regardless of cognitive ability. To explore employment expectations and experiences, qualitative interviews were conducted with 12 young adults with ASD and 28 parents. Transcripts were analyzed using the constant comparative method associated with a grounded theory approach. Three major themes emerged: Employment Aspirations and Potential , Challenges of Job Finding and Keeping , and Differing Parent and Young Adult Work-Related Roles and Views . Issues discussed include the need to foster meaningful pre-employment opportunities, acknowledge the role of families in employment issues, provide ASD-focused workplace support, and effectively coordinate intersecting systems (e.g., schools, agencies, employers).