IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2011 [23 August 2011]
http://beta.adb.org/key-indicators/2011/main
or
http://www.adb.org/Documents/Books/Key_Indicators/2011/pdf/Key-Indicators-2011.pdf
[full-text, 334 pages]

Description

The Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2011 (Key Indicators 2011), the 42nd edition of this series, is a statistical data book presenting economic, financial, social, and environmental indicators for the 48 regional members of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This issue of the Key Indicators presents in Part I a special chapter—Toward Higher Quality Employment in Asia—followed by statistical tables in Parts II and III with short, nontechnical commentaries on economic, financial, social, and environmental developments. Part II comprises the first set of statistical tables and commentaries, which look at the MDGs and progress in the region toward achieving key targets. The second set of tables, which are in Part III, is grouped into seven themes providing a broader picture of economic, financial, social, and environmental developments. The aim of the publication is to provide the latest key statistics on development issues concerning Asian and Pacific economies to a wide audience including policy makers, development practitioners, government officials, researchers, students, and the general public. This year, the ADB also presents the Framework of Inclusive Growth Indicators, a special supplement to the Key Indicators.

The Key Indicators 2011 is divided into the following parts:

• Highlights
• Part I: A special chapter on "Toward Higher Quality Employment in Asia"
• Part II: Millennium Development Goals
• Part III: Regional Tables
• Part IV: Definitions

Press Release 23 August 2011
Quality Jobs Essential to Asia's Growth, Stability – Report
http://beta.adb.org/news/quality-jobs-essential-asias-growth-stability-report

SINGAPORE – Asia’s policymakers must take decisive steps to generate high quality, productive jobs if the region is to sustain and broaden the benefits of its economic expansion of the past two decades, says an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report published today.

In a special chapter of Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2011, its flagship annual statistical publication, ADB says Asia has outstripped other regions in growth and employment creation since 1990. This has led to substantial improvements in living standards, but progress has been uneven in this heterogeneous region. Asia still remains home to most of the world’s poor with more than 40% of most countries’ populations living below the $2-a-day poverty line.

Lower-income countries are having difficulty meeting some of the Millennium Development Goal targets and where progress has lagged, social tensions may arise. Despite recent turmoil in financial markets, policymakers must keep focused on structural improvements.

As Asia grapples with globalization and changing demographics, including an expanding middle class and aging societies, it will face even more pressure to generate quality jobs that can satisfy public aspirations and support inclusive growth.  Many of the new jobs that have been created in Asia are low-cost, low-wage manufacturing positions.

“The percentage of workers in informal employment in Asia remains sharply higher than in most other regions. Quality jobs are important for reducing poverty and income inequality, and for promoting social cohesion and political stability,” said ADB’s Chief Economist Changyong Rhee.

The special chapter, titled “Toward Higher Quality Employment in Asia,” says the pattern and rate of job creation across the region have been sharply mixed, and growth is not enough on its own to guarantee quality jobs with decent wages and conditions. The report says creating higher value-added jobs and increasing labor productivity are key to quality employment, and higher quality employment is the critical link between growth and poverty reduction. But there is no one-size-fits-all solution for the region, with economies at different stages of development.

Middle-income countries will need to promote trade and foreign direct investment, and develop human capital in order to move up the value chain of production, while diversifying the types of social protection measures. Low-income countries can benefit from increasing trade and facilitating smoother rural-urban migration. Productivity in rural areas needs to be improved, and technical and vocational training broadened. For these countries, informal workers need to be provided with a basic level of social protection.

“With appropriate demand and supply side policies and some levels of social protection, countries can make substantial progress towards developing higher quality employment in Asia that will enable it to continue its achievements in poverty reduction and inclusive growth,” Mr. Rhee said.

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

****************************************
Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 262-6041               
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
****************************************