Sara Elder

Female participation rates over the past few decades have declined in the Asia and the Pacific region partly because of an increasing trend in educational attainment that has delayed labour market entry (a pattern closely mirrored in other regions). Yet, in the various subregions, female participation rates are high in comparison to the global average and also in relation to rates found in other regions with a similar level of development. As of 2021, only South Asia as a subregion fell below the global average. In South Asia only 1 in 4 women are participating in the labour market while other subregions show participation rates ranging from a low of approximately 48 per cent in Central and Western Asia to just above 60 per cent in East Asia (compared to 44 per cent globally or just under 50 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean). Employment growth among women in Asia and the Pacific over the past three decades has also been relatively strong. Between 1991 and 2021, average annual employment growth among women in the region was 1.1 per cent (compared to 1.2 per cent among men). However, this has not been adequate to keep pace with labour force growth in the region (this is true for both men and women). Alongside the relatively strong employment growth has been considerable improvements in formal employment. Indeed, across the region considerable reductions in informal employment have occurred in recent years, largely driven by trends in South-East Asia. On average, the share of informal employment for women has fallen by almost 1 percentage point per year over the past decade to reach 55 per cent in 2021 compared to just over 65 per cent in 2010. However, gender gaps and decent work deficits persist for women due in part to unequal gains from structural transformation. Despite some improvements, gender gaps persist in labour market outcomes. The gap in participation rates between men and women, at close to 25 percentage points, remains elevated and 5 percentage points higher than the gap present in Latin America and the Caribbean or at the global level. The gap is particularly pronounced in the South Asia subregion at almost 50 percentage points. This can be attributed to a combination of gendered social norms regarding intra-household distribution of roles and responsibilities for unpaid domestic and care work, and perceptions of acceptability of women’s role in the labour market. Moreover, with female employment growth in the region being modestly slower per annum, the share of women in total employment has, in fact, shrunk. In 2021, women made up 37.5 per cent of total employment in Asia and the Pacific, compared to 38.5 per cent in 1991 (globally the share of women in total employment has increased modestly to 39.6 per cent in 2021). Underlying the moderately weak job growth among women in the region is the fact that in a number of dynamic sectors, such as High value-added manufacturing (where it prevails), women did not benefit to the same degree as men. This is consistent with the findings of a recent ILO (2022a) report, which found that among the ten sectors with the highest employment growth rates in the region, only one had women taking up more than half of the jobs added over the past three decades.

The Asia–Pacific Employment and Social Outlook 2022 report pulls together the most recent statistics to generate an update of the impact on workers and enterprises in the region since the COVID-19 pandemic began nearly three years prior. It also examines the longer term trends to generate a detailed picture of where and how people work in the region, focusing on the sectoral composition of employment and its relation to decent work and development outcomes. In the context of increasing economic, political and environmental uncertainties, the Outlook argues that only by transforming how labour market institutions function will countries make a breakthrough to a human-centred future of work that links to inclusive and sustainable growth.

Asia and the Pacific stands out as the world’s top performer when it comes to economic growth, owing in large part to its dynamic labour markets. Yet despite the plethora of work in the region, work that qualifies as “decent” remains in short supply in many countries. Acknowledging the commitments made in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all” under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8, special attention is given to assessing the region’s prospects to advance decent work for inclusive growth and sustainable development. Where countries in the region fall short in their capacity to expand decent work and hence inclusive growth – as almost all countries do – the report suggests a course of action for advancing on a policy mix that can help to keep decent work front and centre in the development agenda.