Public Job-Creation Programs: The Economic Benefits of Investing in Social Care? Case Studies in South Africa and the United States
Levy Economics Institute Working Paper No. 671
35 Pages Posted: 23 May 2011 Last revised: 12 Dec 2014
Date Written: May 19, 2011
Abstract
This paper demonstrates the strong impacts that public job creation in social care provisioning has on employment creation. Furthermore, it shows that mobilizing underutilized domestic labor resources and targeting them to bridge gaps in community-based services yield strong pro-poor income growth patterns that extend throughout the economy. Social care provision also contributes to promoting gender equality, as women - especially from low-income households constitute a major workforce in the care sector. We present the ex-ante policy simulation results from two country case studies: South Africa and the United States. Both social accounting matrix–based multiplier analysis and propensity ranking–based microsimulation provide evidence of the pro-poor impacts the social care expansion.
Keywords: Social Care, Job Creation, Gender Equality, Pro-Poor Growth
JEL Classification: C15, C67, D33, E24, J48
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