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Call for papers
WIDER Development Conference in partnership with UNESCAP: Transforming economies – for better jobs
United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in partnership with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) will organize a three-day conference on transforming economies in Bangkok, Thailand, on 11-13 September 2019.
Given the increasing supply of secondary and tertiary educated workers in developing countries as well as a large movement of young adults to the cities and towns – and their aspirations for a better future – the lack of productive jobs for men and women is both an economic and a political challenge. Accordingly, the creation of productive jobs for both men and women are essential preconditions for the achieving the SDGs on decent work and gender equality. In recent decades, many developing countries have seen reasonably strong rates of economic growth, yet the pace of structural transformation in these countries has been uneven, with limited success in creating jobs in the more productive sectors of economies.
This conference will discuss the challenges of productive job creation in many different country contexts, across all developing regions (Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East). It will engage with current debates around the future of work in the face of rapid labour-saving technological advances, the changing nature of globalisation, and their implications for the prospects for structural transformation in low and middle-income countries.
The conference will also feature analysis on the poverty and inequality consequences of structural transformation through the lens of labour market dynamics. Key questions to discuss will also be the persistent barriers to productive and well-paid jobs for women and disadvantaged groups, especially in manufacturing and services.
Interested applicants wishing to present original research at the conference on the topics discussed above should complete the online application form. We particularly encourage submissions from early-career, female, and developing country researchers.
The deadline for submitting proposals is 28 February 2019 23:59 UTC+2.
