Regional Development and Employment Policy [antikvár]

Preface This book is part of a series of pul:)lications from the JLO's Action Proi>ranrnie on PrivaiizcHion. Restructuring and Economic Democracy, ;iikI is published for use by governments, workers' and employers' organisations, development agencies, consultants, academics and others. The ILO is paitii -Lilarh" interested in the social aspects of economic transformation, structural adjListment and privatisation. It is also concerned with helping all stakeholders better understand and a.sse.ss the economic, political and cultural conditions that lead to the successful implementation of these reforms, Exj^erience has indicated that countries which manage to involve important stakeholders effectively in transformation processes are more successful in dcbieving positive social and economic results. The economic transformation in Central and Eastern Europe has had a strong negative effect on employment, one of the ILO's main areas of interest. In a ccmtext of economic crisis, employment and participation rates have declined rapidly since 1989, and Lioth open and hidden unemployment are often high. Moreover, recent economic recovery in .some transition countries has not been able to reverse this tendency. Despite these developments, the emjiloyment problem has not received the attention it deseives, and few-countries have developed a comprehensive employment policy. In this book, which derives from contriloutions to a seminar held in Budape.st in May 1997, a specific feature of employment is analysed: its local or regional dimension. As many authors in this volume point out, employment and unemjjloyment show remarkable differences within the individual countries of Central and Eastern Europe, where certain areas or localities are clearly doing better than others. Economic and social policies often fail to consider these differences, and national-level policies ai'e not able to attend to the specific problems of particular regions. As a lesult, the economic potential of most coimtries is not fully realised, their furthei' development is hindered, and many so-called problem regions witli huge emi^loy-ment problems have ajipeared. This situation calls for a decentralised approach to economic and social develoj^ment, as well as to employmerrt promotion. Within the framework of more general national policy measures, the elaboration of local development policies has !proven a promising approach. Local polic:ies are able to take into account the variety of socio-economic conditions and the concrete disadvantages and opportunities of specific localities and regions within a country. They can also effectively take a multi-sectoral approach, and aim to create a socio-economic environment conducive to development in general and employment creation in particular, A prere(|uisite to the design of local and regional development strategies is ihe active par-