Post-COVID Labour Supply Constraints And Opportunities: New Considerations For Labour Market Policies

4th Joint IMF-OECD-World Bank Conference on Structural Reforms

May 15, 2023 | OECD Conference Centre, Paris

We are pleased to announce the 4th Joint IMF-OECD-World Bank Conference on Structural Reforms, which will be hosted on 15 May 2023 at OECD Headquarters in Paris.  The theme of the Conference is Post-COVID Labour Supply Constraints And Opportunities: New Considerations For Labour Market Policies

The event will bring together speakers from various universities and organisations, and cover topics such as new work patterns from digitalisation, lessons from labour policies during COVID and labour market impacts of technologies and policies. It will also feature a keynote presentation by Harvard professor Richard Freeman as well as a policy panel participation of Betsey Stevenson (University of Michigan) and Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln (Frankfurt University).

For more information regarding the venue, please visit the OECD web page:

4th Joint IMF-OECD-World Bank Conference on Structural Reforms

The conference will take place in person, but it will be possible to listen remotely (no possibility for intervention), with prior registration at the following link:

Register Here

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Preliminary Agenda

8:40 – 9:00

Registration of participants

9:00 – 9:10

Opening remarks

Luiz de Mello, Director, Policy Studies Branch, Economics Department, OECD

9:10 – 10:10

Keynote Address:

Post-shock reallocation and risks: The role of labour markets and policies

Moderator:

Luiz de Mello, Director, Policy Studies Branch, Economics Department, OECD

Speaker:

Richard Freeman, Professor, Harvard University

10:10 – 10:35

Coffee Break

10:35 – 12:00

Session I: New work patterns from COVID and digitalisation

Moderator:

Alain de Serres, Deputy-Director, Policy Studies Branch, Economics Department, OECD

Speakers:

Yashodhan Ghorpade, Senior economist, World Bank
“Money or Flexibility? Insights from a Discrete-Choice Experiment in Malaysia”

  • Co-authored with Alyssa Jasmin (World Bank) and Amanina Abdur Rahman (World Bank, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Marina Tavares, Economist, IMF

“Digitalization during the COVID-19 Crisis: Implications for Productivity and Labor Markets in Advanced Economies”

  • Co-authored with Jiaming Soh (University of Michigan) and, Florence Jaumotte, Longji Li, Andrea Medici, Myrto Oikonomou, Carlo Pizzinelli, and Ippei Shibata (Research Department, International Monetary Fund)

Mathias Dolls, Deputy Director, IFO Center for Macroeconomics and Surveys “Working from Home Around the World”

  • Co-authored with Cevat Giray Aksoy (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), Jose Maria Barrero (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico), Nicholas Bloom (Stanford University), Steven J. Davis (University of Chicago and Hoover Institution) and Pablo Zarate (Universidad de San Andrés and Princeton University)

Discussant:

Luca Marcolin, Senior Economist, Policy Studies Branch, Economics Department, OECD

Floor discussion

12:00 – 13:30

Lunch break                                                     

13:30 – 14:55

Session II: Lessons from labour policies during COVID-19

Moderator:

Marcello Estevao, Senior Adviser, Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, World Bank

Speakers:

Lilas Demmou, Senior Economist, OECD

“Employment dynamics across firms during COVID: the role of job retention schemes”

  • Project conducted by a team of economists from the Economics Department and the Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, under the supervision of Chiara Criscuolo and Filiz Unsal.  

Victoria Nuguer, Senior Research Economist, IADB
“Labor Market and Macroeconomic Dynamics in Latin America Amid COVID: The Role of Digital Adoption Policies”

  • Co-authored with Alan F. Shapiro (Tufts University)

Elías Albagli, Chief Economist, Bank of Chile, “Credit and Employment Policies for Firms: Evidence from the COVID Pandemic”

  • Co-authored with Andrés Fernandes (IMF), and Juan Guerra-Salas, Federico Huneeous, and Pablo Munoz (Bank of Chile)  

Discussants:

Stéphane Carcillo, Head of Division, Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD [TBC]

Floor discussion

14:55 - 15:15

Coffee Break

15:15 – 16:40

Session III: Labour market impacts of technology and labour policies

Moderator:

Florence Jaumotte, Division Chief, Structural and Climate Policies Division, Research Department, IMF

Speakers:

Jennifer Poole, Associate Professor, American University, “The impact of technology on worker tasks: Do labor policies matter?”

  • Co-authored with Rita K. Almeida (World Bank and IZA) and Carlos H. L. Corseuil (IPEA) 

Jonathan Heathcote, Fed Minneapolis, “The great resignation and optimal unemployment insurance”

  • Co-authored with Zhifeng Cai (Rutgers University)

Naomitsu Yashiro, Senior Economist, IMF, “Technology, labour market institutions and early retirement”

  • Co-authored with Tomi Kyyrä (VAT T Institute for Economic Research and IZA) and Juha Tuomala (VAT T Institute for Economic Research)

Discussant:

Filiz Unsal, Head of Structural Policy Analysis Division, Economics Department, OECD

Floor discussion

16:40 – 17:50

Policy Pannel: How to build resilient labour markets in the face of rapid changes

Moderator:

Clare Lombardelli, OECD Chief Economist

Panellists:

Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln, Professor, University of Frankfurt

Betsey Stevenson, Professor, University of Michigan

Richard Freeman, Professor, Harvard University

Floor discussion

17:50 – 18:00

Closing remarks