The Global Employment Challenge examines in depth the state of employment in the world today. It finds that there is a serious problem worldwide: lack of productive work for a large section of the labor force. The causes and manifestations of the problem differ in the developing, developed, and transition economies of central and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The report offers groundbreaking empirical analysis of the nature and characteristics of the employment problem in each of the three types of economies. It looks at the factors underlying the problem, considers the impact of globalization, and identifies the policy challenges at national and international levels. The report warns that if national governments and the global community fail to respond to these policy challenges, the employment problem will spread throughout the world. It is well-written, full of useful information and has a nice combination of data and analytics.?The report should be valuable to the research and policy communities. --Kaushik Basu, C. Marks Professor and director of the Center for Analytic Economics, Cornell University