The Nature and the Scope of the Global Economic Crisis’ Impact on Employment Trends and Policies in South East Europe

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of the global economic downturn, its nature and impacts on the state of employment in the region of South East Europe. As the financial crisis spilled over into the real sector, its effects, with varying magnitude, ranging from relatively consequential to devastating, were such that inescapably impacted lives across the planet, with the poorest as the most vulnerable and marginalized bearing a particularly heavy burden. The crisis has had disproportionate impacts on social and economic rights and well-being of specific groups of people, in particular, women and children, migrants and minorities. Limited to the context of South East Europe, this paper’s main thrust is to explore what impact the global financial crisis has exerted on the employment and poverty trends across the region. It thus seeks to delineate the extent to which unemployment and, where applicable, poverty trends have been affected by the crisis. Nevertheless, participation and employment rates can differ, as they do in many of these countries in question, according to gender, level of education, age or urban/rural origin. The crisis’ ensuing social gap and its scope shall be particularly observed. The referenced data mainly originate from such authoritative agencies as the World Bank, IMF, ILO as well as national bureaus of statistics.