Labor Market Regulation and Employment in the Caribbean

Abstract

One of the major economic challenges facing the Caribbean is the generation of employment opportunities to reduce the high levels of unemployment experienced primarily among the young and female segments of the workforce. An analysis of unemployment requires an examination of both the supply and demand sides of the labor market. This research project focuses on the demand side of the labor market by examining the impact which labor market regulations have had on employment creation in the English-speaking Caribbean countries of Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. The main objectives of this research project are to i) document the range of labor market regulations existing in the three English-speaking members of the IADB; ii) identify the costs implications of such regulations; iii) empirically determine the impact which such measures have on employment determination, using econometric methods.