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In this contribution to the on-going debate about the relationship between income inequality and growth, UNCTAD argues that rising inequality is neither a necessary condition for sound economic growth, nor its natural result. By contrast, full participation of all citizens in the proceeds of the economy as a whole in indispensable for successful and sustained development.

The Report further discusses what are widely perceived to be the main structural causes of recent changes in income distribution, including trade, technological change, and finance-led globalization. It argues that the impacts of globalization and technological change on domestic income distribution are not uniform. Rather, they depend on initial conditions and on how macroeconomic, financial and labour market policies interact with the forces of globalization and technological development. Structural changes do not necessarily lead to greater inequality if appropriate employment, wage, and income distribution policies are in place

Finally, the Report examines how labour-market institutions and policies, together with an appropriate macroeconomic framework, can respond to current challenges and lead to sustained growth and more inclusive development. It starts with the proposition that slow growth has a strong impact on inequality, due to high unemployment, which weakens the bargaining power of labour.

A brawl involving as many as 2,000 workers forced Foxconn to close its Taiyuan plant in northern China late on Sunday, and left a number of people needing hospital treatment.

The Taiyuan plant, which employs about 79,000 workers, makes parts for automotive electronics and assembles various electronic devices, according to Woo. Other staff sources said it makes parts for and assembles Apple's new iPhone 5, released last week.

Since the advent of market reforms, provisions for social insurance have been scattered throughout a patchwork of rules and regulations implemented at the national, provincial, and local level, including the 1995 Labour Law and 2008 Labour Contract Law. The passage of the Social Insurance Law in 2010 established the first comprehensive social insurance law in China, aiming to consolidate existing rules and regulations under a standardized national social security framework. Although some specific implementation details are established in the law, such as the contribution terms required in order to be eligible for pension and unemployment benefits, the Social Insurance Law functions more as a statement of broad principles, leaving most of the implementation details for future clarification via additional regulations at the national and local level. The law repeatedly affirms the policy established in the Labour Contract Law, that social insurance benefits remain with workers if they move to different locations, however as is discussed below, this principle has proved very difficult to implement on the ground. And enforcement of the law in general remains very lax, meaning that many workers are denied the social security benefits they are legally entitled to.

Brazil, which has more people of African descent than any other country outside of Africa itself, is assertively raising its profile again on the continent, building on historical ties from the time of the Portuguese empire.

The charm offensive is paying off in surging trade flows between Brazil and Africa, growing to $27.6 billion in 2011 from $4.3 billion in 2002.

Some of Brazil’s biggest inroads, predictably, are in Portuguese-speaking countries like Angola, where the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht ranks among the largest employers, and Mozambique, where the mining giant Vale has begun a $6 billion coal expansion project.

A SURVEY by Tsinghua University of college graduates' income has once again attracted attention. It found that 69 percent of students who graduated in 2011 were paid less than 2,000 yuan (US$314) a month for their first job. Meanwhile, the National Statistics Bureau said migrant workers' monthly wages reached a record 2,049 yuan a month in 2011.

According to the latest edition of JobTrends—a quarterly series monitoring labor markets in a sample of emerging economies—employment growth maintained its gradual ascent in the first quarter of 2012. In the countries surveyed, continued economic growth helped employment reach a growth rate of 2.9 percent in that period.

Keeping with the overall trend, labor markets in Europe and Central Asia continued then their steady recovery, with striking declines in unemployment in Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, and the Russian Federation. Similarly, selected labor markets in Latin America also improved, amid a slowdown in economic growth. In the four East Asian countries included in the report, employment and wage growth improved, with China’s employment growth jumping to 9.9 percent.

At the same time, however, the median unemployment rate increased slightly in the sample from 5.8 to 6.2 percent, signaling that some economies may have then started to have difficulties maintaining a high pace of job creation, as they were continuing to feel the effects of the financial crisis in advanced economies.

The global economic landscape has evolved dramatically since 2000: developing and emerging economies have been driving global growth, new sources of development finance have mushroomed and the diversification of actors, instruments and delivery mechanisms has continued. Transformations in the poverty map and new forces on the supply side of development finance are challenging the international development architecture. This paper aims to stimulate debate on the future of this architecture. The authors project that, by 2025, the locus of global poverty will overwhelmingly be in fragile, mainly low-income and African, states, contrary to current policy preoccupations with the transitory phenomenon of poverty concentration in middle-income countries. Moreover, a smaller share of industrialised country income than ever before will potentially close the remaining global poverty gap, although direct income transfers are not yet feasible in many fragile country contexts. Against this backdrop, new institutions, business models and practices are challenging long-established ‘aid industry’ actors. Agencies providing development finance for improved social welfare, for mutual self-interest in growth and trade and for the provision of global public goods will find that, in each area, disruptors to their programmes may force a change in positioning.

According to the report, “Consolidating and Accelerating Exports in Bangladesh” exports can grow faster, provided critical bottlenecks are addressed. Bangladesh needs to improve its trade logistics and infrastructure, increase supply of skilled manpower, and ensure compliance with Government’s labor standards.

The skills gap is becoming increasingly visible in all manufacturing sectors, and perhaps more so in the garment sector.  A high rate of rejection of final products is one evidence of this. Presence of skilled foreign workers is evidence of gaps in supervisory and management skills.  As the main vehicle for training workers, the publicly-funded Technical and Vocational Education and Training program needs to increase its relevance to better meet the needs of garments and other sectors.  More innovative ways to improve skills, such as trainee-targeted training vouchers, also need to be thought of.