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G²LM|LIC Policy Brief No. 41

The Jobs of the World Database: A New Dataset on Labour Markets of Developing Countries

Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries

Researchers in development economics have made great progress towards understanding the link between gender, jobs and poverty by rigorous evaluation of policies at a very micro level. However, the main challenge facing researchers today is to aggregate this knowledge and to gauge the external validity of each specific evaluation. In its sphere, the Jobs of the World Database tries to account for this lack of resources. The dataset harmonises available micro datasets that contain information on labour market activities and poverty to create a multi-country macro data-set that contains information about labour force participation, occupational choice (sector, casual vs regular, wage vs self-employment) split by gender, age, geographic region (urban vs rural), education levels, and wealth quintiles. This dataset covers the time period 1990-2019 and serves two purposes: (1) It would allow researchers to compare their particular setting to averages in other contexts to get a sense of how widespread patterns are and therefore the extent to which their research can be informative for other settings, and (2) It would help to identify unexplained patterns and gaps in research.

G²LM|LIC Policy Brief No. 41

The Jobs of the World Database: A New Dataset on Labour Markets of Developing Countries

  • Ahmed Elsayed
  • Oriana Bandiera
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Established in 1998 in Bonn, Germany, IZA is an independent, non-profit research institution supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation with a focus on the analysis of global labour markets. It operates an international network of about 1,500 economists and researchers spanning across more than 50 countries.

Based on academic excellence and an ambitious publication strategy, IZA serves as a place of communication between academic science and political practice.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) leads the UK's work to end extreme poverty. We're ending the need for aid by creating jobs, unlocking the potential of girls and women, and helping to save lives when humanitarian emergencies hit.

FCDO is a ministerial department, supported by 12 agencies and public bodies.

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