Unemployment Insurance and Emergency Employment Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean

Unemployment Insurance and Emergency Employment Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean

Published Jan 1999

Author

G. Márquez

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A sort of conventional wisdom seems to be coalescing around the notion that unemployment insurance and emergency employment programs should be the tools of choice to deal with economy-wide shocks. However, the very limited and partial experience in the implementation of income transfers through labor market programs suggests that effectively coping with economy-wide shocks require solutions that are tailor-made and adapted to the particular institutions and history of each country.

The paper describes the various income transfer programs that operate through labor market mechanisms in 7 countries in the region. Each one of the alternative approaches face design problems of its own, is adequate to face different labor market situations, and is strongly influenced by the particular political and institutional context in which the program operates. Some questions and dilemmas that emerge from this comparative exercise are presented in the concluding section. [author]

Paper prepared for the IDB Conference on Social Protection and Poverty, on February 4 and 5, 1999

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