South Asia, which is home to more than 40 percent of the
world’s absolute poor, will contribute nearly 40 percent of the
growth in the world’s working age population over the next
several decades. More and Better Jobs in South Asia attempts to answer
three questions:
- Has South Asia been creating an increasing number of jobs and
better jobs?
- What has determined the quality of job creation and what is the
employment challenge going forward?
- What demand- and supply-side bottlenecks need to be eased to meet
South Asia’s employment challenge in the face of intensifying
demographic pressure?
The region has created just under 800,000 jobs per month during the
past two decades, a rate that broadly tracks growth in its working age
population. The quality of jobs- measured in terms of higher wages for
wage workers and lower poverty for the self-employed-has been
improving, thanks to strong economic growth in some countries and
massive out-migration and workers’ remittances elsewhere. But
there is absolutely no room for complacency. South Asia will add
between 1 million and 1.2 million new entrants to the labor force every
month for the next two decades. Absorbing them into the labor force at
rising levels of labor productivity is the crux of the employment
challenge.
Meeting the employment challenges calls for a reform agenda that
cuts across sectors. It includes enhancing access to reliable
electricity supply for firms in urban and rural settings, reducing
corruption in dealings between firms and the state, facilitating access
to land, strengthening transport links between town and country,
focusing on better nutrition in early childhood, improving the quality
of education to equip workers with relevant skills for the world of
work, and protecting workers in both informal and formal sectors rather
than protecting jobs for the few in the formal sector of the
economy.
Recognizing that South Asia is the most conflict-affected of the
major regions in the world, the book also includes a chapter on how the
challenges of job creation are magnified in such environments as well
as some priorities going forward for labor market policies and
programs.
More and Better Jobs will be of interest to policy makers and their
advisers, not only in South Asia but also in other parts of the world
where creating better jobs is a significant challenge, as well as to
the international development community and students of economics.
- Shipping Weight: 2.24 lbs (1.02 kgs)
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