register
Sher Verick

Employment Strategies for Inclusive Transformation Unit, ILO, Switzerland, and IZA, Germany

I am very happy to contribute to this project. I believe this is a great way to share research findings with a broader audience, particularly among policymakers. IZA’s World of Labor will definitely help enhance the understanding of key issues in labor policy

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Head, Employment Strategies for Inclusive Transformation Unit, ILO, Switzerland

Research interest

Labor market policies and institutions in developing countries, informality, gender and technology

Website

http://bit.ly/Verick_IZApage

Positions/functions as a policy advisor

Senior Employment Policy Specialist, ILO, advising governments in South Asia on labor market and economic policy issues

Past positions

Manager of the Employment Policy and Analysis Programme of the International Training Centre of the ILO, Italy; Senior Employment Policy Specialist, International Labour Organization (ILO), New Delhi, India; Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (MIAESR), Australia

Qualifications

PhD Economics, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) and University of Bonn, Germany, 2004

Selected publications

  • Perspectives on Labour Economics for Development. Geneva: ILO, 2013 (with S. Cazes).

  • The Labour Markets of Emerging Economies. Basingstoke, UK: ILO/Palgrave Macmillan, 2013 (with S. Cazes).

  • “On lumpiness in the replacement and expansion of capital.” Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 72:3 (2010): 263–280 (with W. Letterie and G. Pfann).

  • “Giving up job search during a recession: The impact of the global financial crisis on the South African labour market.” Journal of African Economies 21:3 (2011): 373–408.

  • "Manufacturing and jobs: is India different?." The Indian Journal of Labour Economics 59:1 (2016): 57-84.

article(s)

  • Female labor force participation and development Updated

    Improving outcomes for women takes more than raising labor force participation—good jobs are important too

    Sher Verick, May 2025
    The relationship between female labor force participation and economic development is far more complex than often portrayed in both the academic literature and policy debates. Due to various economic and social factors, such as the pattern of growth, education attainment, and social norms, trends in female labor force participation do not conform consistently with the notion of a U-shaped relationship with gross domestic produc (GDP). Despite the initial impact, Covid-19 did not have a lasting negative effect, on average, on women’s participation. At the same time, some countries have made significant progress in increasing participation rates for women, including those who have started from a lower level.
    MoreLess