Boost productivity, Asean countries told
Friday, May 18, 2007
SOUTHEAST Asian countries are failing to raise productivity levels to help millions of workers out of crippling poverty, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned.
Asean nations needed to significantly boost productivity rates to reduce grinding poverty and remain competitive with power houses China and India, the ILO said in its latest report.
It warned that failure to lift rates would also widen the development gap between the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and prevent the bloc from creating better jobs for its burgeoning workforce.
"If this trend continues, it will have a serious negative impact on the ability of the region sandwiched between these two Asian giants, China and India, to compete," ILO economist Steve Kapsos told AFP Thursday.
China and India were improving the skills of their workforce and in many cases offering improved wages and benefits as their economies grew, he said.
"In contrast, many Asean countries are just paying low wages and you can't compete within the region on low wages alone. You need to value add," he said.
Despite economic growth among Asean nations, more than half of the bloc's 262 million workers earned US$2 ($3.041) a day, not enough to lift them and their families out of poverty, the report said.
One in every 10 workers lived in extreme poverty of less than US$1 per day and the figures were even worse in the Philippines, Cambodia and Laos.
Kapsos pointed to the growth in many Asean nations of poor urban areas where thousands were working as under-skilled labourers and as vendors or street hawkers.
"Given the region's strong export-orientation, productivity growth is critical to Asean. Productivity growth is one of the main determinations of a country's overall competitiveness," the report said.
"It is also essential for creating quality jobs and reducing poverty, since increased labour productivity can lead to higher wages, better working conditions and more investment in human resources," it said.
"Decent work is central to development."
Output per worker in Asean grew only 15.5 per cent between 2000 and 2005, compared to 26.9 per cent in India and 63.4 per cent in China in the same period, said the report, which was released in Jakarta this week.AFP
Asean nations needed to significantly boost productivity rates to reduce grinding poverty and remain competitive with power houses China and India, the ILO said in its latest report.
It warned that failure to lift rates would also widen the development gap between the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and prevent the bloc from creating better jobs for its burgeoning workforce.
"If this trend continues, it will have a serious negative impact on the ability of the region sandwiched between these two Asian giants, China and India, to compete," ILO economist Steve Kapsos told AFP Thursday.
China and India were improving the skills of their workforce and in many cases offering improved wages and benefits as their economies grew, he said.
"In contrast, many Asean countries are just paying low wages and you can't compete within the region on low wages alone. You need to value add," he said.
Despite economic growth among Asean nations, more than half of the bloc's 262 million workers earned US$2 ($3.041) a day, not enough to lift them and their families out of poverty, the report said.
One in every 10 workers lived in extreme poverty of less than US$1 per day and the figures were even worse in the Philippines, Cambodia and Laos.
Kapsos pointed to the growth in many Asean nations of poor urban areas where thousands were working as under-skilled labourers and as vendors or street hawkers.
"Given the region's strong export-orientation, productivity growth is critical to Asean. Productivity growth is one of the main determinations of a country's overall competitiveness," the report said.
"It is also essential for creating quality jobs and reducing poverty, since increased labour productivity can lead to higher wages, better working conditions and more investment in human resources," it said.
"Decent work is central to development."
Output per worker in Asean grew only 15.5 per cent between 2000 and 2005, compared to 26.9 per cent in India and 63.4 per cent in China in the same period, said the report, which was released in Jakarta this week.AFP
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