While the international community has made a commitment to achieve full employment and decent work for all, this goal seems ever more distant in view of recent trends such as growing unemployment and underemployment, the phenomenon of 'jobless growth', the increasing 'casualization' of employment relations, the promotion of labour flexibility at the expense of welfare security, de-industrialization and the continued decline of peasant agriculture.

Revisiting some familiar terrain with new lenses, this ground-breaking book seeks fresh solutions. Employment creation is seen as the key link in ensuring that economic growth contributes to poverty reduction, with management of technological change playing a crucial role. While the trend towards greater labour flexibility seems irresistible, recent experience provides some options for also ensuring decent work and economic security. This book illustrates how alternative macroeconomic policy priorities can alleviate the employment problems exacerbated by financial liberalization. It explores new approaches to social security, the informal economy, the welfare state and rural employment in Africa.