This note provides operational guidance to staff on Jobs and Growth issues in surveillance and program work, building on the Board paper “Jobs and Growth: Analytical and Operational Considerations for the Fund” (hereafter, “Board paper”). Jobs and Growth issues can be defined broadly as issues relating to GDP growth, employment, and income distribution. The Board paper noted that work on these issues needs to be consistent with both the Fund’s mandate and its areas of expertise. On a number of structural issues, especially related to labor market reforms and social protection schemes, the Fund would need to effectively collaborate with other institutions with greater relevant expertise.

This supplement provides case studies of how countries around the world have addressed jobs and growth challenges, and how Fund staff have helped in this. The studies are meant to provide cross country experience. They share a broad structure, organized around four questions: ? What was the initial situation regarding growth, employment, and income distribution? ? What policy measures were implemented to enhance growth and employment and to even out the distribution of income? Were potential complementarities or trade-offs between enhancing growth, employment, and income distribution considered? ? How did Fund staff help the authorities? For example, in which areas did staff help the authorities analyze issues, how did staff go about analyzing issues, and what were the main considerations that shaped staff’s recommendations? ? What were the results of policy actions taken?

This note provides operational guidance to staff on Jobs and Growth issues in surveillance and program work, building on the Board paper 'Jobs and Growth: Analytical and Operational Considerations for the Fund' (hereafter, 'Board paper'). Jobs and Growth issues can be defined broadly as issues relating to GDP growth, employment, and income distribution. The Board paper noted that work on these issues needs to be consistent with both the Fund's mandate and its areas of expertise. On a number of structural issues, especially related to labor market reforms and social protection schemes, the Fund would need to effectively collaborate with other institutions with greater relevant expertise.

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"Reducing gender gaps can have important economic benefits. Gender gaps remain significant on a global scale, both with respect to opportunities and outcomes. For example, gender-based legal restrictions in many parts of the world, as well as barriers in access to education, healthcare, and financial services, prevent women from fully participating in the economy. In turn, labor force participation rates are lower among women than men. Gender equality can play an important role in promoting economic stability by boosting economic productivity and growth, enhancing economic resilience, and reducing income inequality. The Fund has begun operationalizing gender issues in its work. Staff has contributed to the economic literature through country-level and cross-country analytical studies, confirming the macro-criticality of gender issues in a broad set of circumstances. Gender issues are also increasingly becoming an integral part of capacity development though technical assistance and training. And in country work, two waves of gender pilots have been completed—encompassing both surveillance and Fund-supported programs and covering all regions of the world and all levels of income—and a third wave is under way. Coverage of gender issues in staff reports should be selective and calibrated to the degree of macroeconomic significance. All teams should consider whether gender issues are relevant, taking into account also the authorities’ priorities, but with no presumption that gender issues will be covered everywhere or every year and with in-depth coverage anticipated in only a limited number of cases any year. Staff should point to macroeconomic significance where it exists, with analysis focused on aspects with economic implications and specific policy advice limited to areas where there is Fund expertise. Where relevant, country teams should leverage external expertise. This note provides an overview of good practices and resources available to staff. The note is consistent with the 2015 Guidance Note for Surveillance Under Article IV Consultations and draws also on the 2013 Guidance Note on Jobs and Growth Issues in Surveillance and Program Work. It provides examples of good practice with respect to coverage of gender issues in country reports and lays out the resources available to country teams, both with respect to existing analytical work as well as the availability of data and tools."

This report updates the 2009 IEO evaluation of IMF Involvement in International Trade Policy Issues. Since then, the composition and structure of international trade have evolved, but trade has not regained its former dynamism. With increasing concern about potential winners and losers from trade, there has been a loss of political support for globalization, increasing trade tensions and protectionism, and the institutional framework supporting multilateral trade has come under heavy strain. The report concludes that overall the IMF deserves considerable credit for its active and timely response, playing a prominent role in championing commitment to an open, rules-based multilateral trading system. The Fund has largely implemented the recommendations of the 2009 evaluation and has strengthened and consolidated its trade policy analysis and advice, appropriately focusing on the key macroeconomic effects and associated risks of trade policy developments at the national and international levels. IMF advocacy on trade has been underpinned by a major expansion in the attention to trade policy issues in multilateral surveillance—and to some extent in bilateral surveillance—supported by high-quality research and analysis, building on the Fund’s well-established modeling capacity. Looking forward, the Fund will need to sustain its current high level of advocacy and analysis on trade policy issues and consider how to increase the overall impact of this work. Key challenges include: contributing to foster a recommitment to trade policy cooperation; further attention to translating multilateral surveillance into bilateral policy advice; consolidating relations with partner institutions; and increased attention to rapidly developing trade policy issues. Across all these dimensions, care will be needed to ensure appropriate evenhandedness in trade policy surveillance across countries. A holistic review of the IMF’s “trade strategy” would help to guide trade policy work and the allocation of scarce resources among competing priorities.

The Background Notes in this Supplement provide essential context and analysis needed to understand the problem of governance and corruption, its impact on the economies of Fund members, and the history and nature of Fund engagement on these issues. They also seek to support the assessment of the Fund’s overall approach to promoting good governance and reducing corruption—including through the lenses of key stakeholders—with a view to identifying strength and closing any remaining gaps.