Labor Redundancies and Privatization
When state-owned enterprises preparing for privatization have very high levels of redundant workers and when social safety nets and redundancy provisions in labor laws are inadequate or lacking, the political and social implications of layoffs mean that the government should be involved in the design and funding of special programs to deal with unemployment and labor unrest. This note reviews the main elements of such programs severance and retirement benefits, retraining and redeployment support, employee share ownership schemes, and importantly, mechanisms to ensure labor consultation and participation. In many countries these programs need to go hand-in-hand with reforms to expand private labor markets: removing obstacles to job creation, ending restrictions on hiring and firing, and eliminating taxes that raise the cost of labor.