Economist (Poverty)

Build a career with impact. Working at the World Bank Group (WBG) provides a unique opportunity to help countries solve their greatest development challenges. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, the WBG is a unique partnership of five global institutions dedicated to ending poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, the WBG works with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) Region EAP is a large and diverse region, ranging from Small Island States of the Pacific to the Philippines and China! Despite substantial economic growth and poverty reduction, the EAP region faces huge development challenges. Growth has been uneven across and within countries, institutions still need strengthening, and most countries are heavily affected by climate change. The Bank plays a significant role on global public goods, including climate, biodiversity, water pollution, and health. The COVID pandemic, and more recently food and energy price increases are compounding the impact of the global economic slowdown. The World Bank Group is seen as a premier development institution in the Region, with a leadership role on analytical and advisory services as well as financing. East Asia and the Pacific Region: https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/ea We are seeking to recruit a highly qualified candidate for the EAP Distributional Impact of Policies Team. We generate knowledge and dialogue and support operational solutions. For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty Our unit covers work across all Country Management Units (CMUs) within the Region, with country work spanning from the smallest Pacific Islands to China; and from fragile and low- income countries, to upper middle income countries in the Region. This Economist position, based in Suva, Fiji will primarily cover countries in the Pacific CMU including Fiji, Tonga, Kiribati, and Tuvalu. The Pacific Poverty and Equity Program supports Pacific Island Countries in strengthening the production and use of data to inform development policy and operational engagement. The program provides technical assistance to national statistical offices on household surveys, poverty measurement, labor market analysis, and the use of administrative data, while also producing analytical work on poverty, inequality, jobs, and economic inclusion across the region. Working closely with governments, development partners, and World Bank country teams, the program helps ensure that high-quality data and evidence are translated into policy dialogue, country diagnostics, and operations aimed at reducing poverty and promoting shared prosperity. The proposed Statistical Innovation and Capacity Building in the Pacific Islands 2 (Pacstat2) project is a regional initiative that seeks to strengthen statistical capacity in participating Pacific countries through a combination of country-level investments and regional support. The project aims to help national statistical offices improve the availability, quality, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness of official statistics while advancing innovative approaches such as survey modernization, administrative data integration, and digital data collection. A central feature of the project is its partnership with the Pacific Community (SPC), which provides regional technical expertise, implementation support, statistical standards, and public goods that allow countries to benefit from shared solutions and economies of scale. Duties and Accountabilities • Contribute to the design and delivery of the team’s Analytical and Advisory Services in country, including poverty monitoring, labor market analysis, core diagnostics, and thematic analytics • Provide technical assistance on implementing household surveys welfare monitoring, and broader statistical capacity building activities • Engage in policy dialogue at the country-level on poverty and equity issues across sectors, to find opportunities to enhance the poverty reduction impact of policies and operational programs. • Adapt global knowledge and methodologies to the needs of government counterparts and Pacific Island country contexts, including poverty measurement, labor market analysis, statistical system, and data innovation. • Contribute to a variety of tasks in the country team, including, Country Growth and Jobs Reports, Public Finance Reviews, the Economic Updates, the Macro Poverty Outlooks, Country Climate Change and Development Reports, and briefings. • Contribute to the preparation and implementation of the Statistical Innovation and Capacity Building in the Pacific Islands 2 (Pacstat2) project, including support for survey modernization, administrative data integration, regional coordination, and capacity development activities.