THE TWO PHASES OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT/147labour mobility and therefore cause unemployment (Lenain, 1993;
Decornoy, 1995; Valier, 1996). In 1995, the World Bank devoted its
entire Report on Global Development to the question of work, with
the title Work in a Borderless Economy (World Bank, 1995). The report
does not beat about the bush; far from it:
The quest for greater worker mobility will often mean implement
ing measures that allow the process of] ob destruction - which will
include dismissals in the public sector - to follow its course [sid].
(World Bank, 1995)The World Bank is fiercely opposed to establishing or maintaining
benefits for the long-term unemployed. Such benefits, goes the
argument, are themselves a cause of unemployment. This is how the
World Bank defines a 'voluntarist labour market policy':
[It is a] policy that seeks to help the unemployed find work and to
improve the future prospects of those already working. This
involves job-search assistance, training and job-creation
initiatives. [On the other hand], a passive policy seeks to support
the standard of living of those not working through monetary and
other forms of assistance. (World Bank, 1995)On the subject of wages, the World Bank comes out clearly against
minimum wage legislation in Third World countries. It argues that
in places where a minimum wage exists, it is 'too high in relation to
the country's earnings and to other wages; even a small increase
would reduce employment' (World Bank, 1995). The conclusion is
categorical: 'The establishment of a minimum wage may be of some
use in industrialised countries, but it is difficult to justify in low and
middle-income countries' (World Bank, 1995).
- Trade Unions
According to the World Bank, trade unions heighten the 'privileges'
of workers in the formal sector and, as a result, 'skew revenue distri
bution' to the detriment of that 'mass of workers who make up the
active population in the informal and rural sectors' (World Bank,
1995). The World Bank also finds that 'trade unions have on
occasion used their political power to oppose structural adjustment'