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bne April 2019 Central Europe I 33
The majority of the 39 economies, which score 90 or above, are OECD high- income countries (26), and a further eight are lower income countries from Europe and Central Asia.
High scores for CEE/CIS economies
Looking at the data by income band shows that in both the upper middle income and lower middle income countries, those from the CEE/
CIS region are disproportionately represented among the countries with the highest scores in that band.
Of the 49 countries in the upper middle income group, for example, seven CEE/ CIS states are in the best performing 12 countries, and only three fall into the bottom half. Similarly, Kosovo tops the lower middle income countries ranking, and another four CEE/CIS countries are among the top 15 states from that region; only Uzbekistan falls into the lower half. And almost all of the CEE/CIS states in the high income category are in the top half in terms of their score on the index.
Latvia tops the CEE/CIS countries, followed by neighbouring Baltic state Estonia. But the other countries that per- form well are more mixed. Serbia (not yet an EU member) follows with a score of 96.88, beating almost all the eastern members of the bloc.
Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland are not far behind, all on 93.75 – all three coun- tries have to varying extents “illiberal” governments and have been enmeshed in controversies over policies concerning women and gender.
However, such politics generally don’t extend to the workplace – in line
with the broader trend of a troubled “Planet Politics” combined with a well functioning “Planet Business” across much of the region. This is most likely to continue given the labour market squeeze in countries across Central and parts of Southeast Europe.
On the other hand, countries progress- ing towards EU accession had an extra impetus for reform. Three countries among the EU candidate countries from the Western Balkans – Albania, Monte-
negro and Serbia – were among those where laws mandating equal remu- neration for work of equal value were introduced.
Of all the countries in the wider region, only two – Russia (73.13) and Uzbekistan (70.63) – fall below the global average (isolated Turkmenistan is not included in the report). Uzbekistan performs espe- cially poorly in the Starting a Job, Getting Paid and Getting a Pension categories; Russia is worst when it comes to Getting Paid and Starting a Job.
Other countries with scores below 80 are all in the eastern part of the region: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakh- stan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine.
Getting women to work
The survey confirms that reducing legal gender differences boosts women’s economic participation. "Many laws and regulations continue to prevent women from entering the workforce or starting a business; discrimination that can have lasting effects on women’s economic inclusion and labor force participation,” says the report. “Econo- mies that failed to implement reforms towards gender equality over the past ten years, for example, saw a smaller increase in the percentage of women working overall and in the percentage of women working relative to men.”
In reforming economies, female labour force participation as a percentage of the total labour force went up by 0.70 per- centage points, while for non-reforming
“If women have equal opportunities
to reach their full potential, the world would not only be fairer, it would be more prosperous as well,” said Georgie- va in a statement. “Change is happening, but not fast enough, and 2.7bn women are still legally barred from having the same choice of jobs as men. It is para- mount that we remove the barriers that hold women back, and with this report we aim to demonstrate that reforms are possible, and to accelerate change.”
Pensions at the forefront of reform
This is particularly important in econo- mies that are experiencing a labour market tightening, as seen in Central Europe, plus Southeast European EU members like Romania.
The Getting a Pension category saw the most reforms in Europe and Central Asia. Of the 11 economies
that reformed in this indicator, nine, all of them ex-communist countries – Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine – are currently equalising the ages at which men and women can retire with full pension benefits over time, says the report.
However, is typically a gradual process, as it has met with backlash in several countries. Last year the Russian govern- ment announced a controversial, long overdue, and widely unpopular pension reform that hikes the retirement ages for Russians from Soviet era lows. The original bill currently in the State Duma proposes hiking the retirement age for
“Of the 49 countries in the upper middle income group, for example, seven CEE/CIS states are in the best performing 12 countries, and only three fall into the bottom half”
economies, it only went up by 0.21 per- centage points. In addition, the labour force participation rate of women rela- tive to men went up by 2.05 percentage points for reforming economies, while for non-reforming economies it went up by 1.74 percentage points.
women to 63 and for men to 65 by 2034, from 55 and 60, respectively. The Min- istry of Finance has said previously that the change is necessary as with Russia’s deteriorating demographics it is afraid of pension payments overwhelming the state finances in the coming years.
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