The IMF Working Papers series is designed to make IMF staff research available to a wide audience. With nearly 300 released each year, working papers cover a wide range of theoretical and analytical topics, including balance of payments, monetary and fiscal issues, global liquidity, and national and international economic developments.
Magda Kandil, Genevieve Lindow, Mario Mansilla, Joel Chiedu Okwuokei, Jochen M. Schmittmann, Qiaoe Chen, Xin Li, Marika Santoro, and Solomon Stavis
Publisher:
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
Published Date:
July 2014
DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5089/9781498387804.001
ISBN:
9781498387804
ISSN:
1018-5941
Page:
46
The paper examines the determinants of employment growth, drawing on data available across a sample of Caribbean countries. To that end, the paper analyzes estimates of the employment-output elasticity and the response of employment growth to major sources of labor market determinants, in the long and short run. The main determinants of employment include government investment and private sector credit, while the major determinants of external performance are real effective exchange rate, the price of major exporting commodities, the number of tourists, and growth in major trading partners. The paper concludes with a menu of policy recommendations and structural reforms towards sustaining high employment growth and higher living standards in the Caribbean.