Features

2012

1. 

   Article

   Youth speak out on employment crisis

   21 May 2012

   This 2012 International Labour Conference (ILC) will focus much of its attention on the issue of youth employment. While for years young people world-wide have had difficulty finding decent work, with the global economic downturn their struggles have become more acute and what was a challenge has been transformed into a crisis. By Matthieu Cognac, Youth Employment Specialist, ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

2. Article

   Eight blocks for building better working lives

   27 April 2012

   May 1st is Labour Day, an opportunity to reflect on the near-universal experience of work, its quality and quantity. One ILO initiative is seeking to achieve 100 per cent ratification of the eight ILO Conventions covering fundamental labour standards by 2015. Tim De Meyer, the ILO Senior Specialist on International Labour Standards and Labour Laws explains why these instruments are important and how they are linked to relieving poverty and improving lives.

2011

1. 

   Article

   Ms Thanh gets a passport; Skills training holds rural families, communities together

   02 December 2011

   Story of Tran Thi Thanh, a 43-year-old grandmother in My Loc, who acquired her first-ever passport and will use it to find work in Taiwan as a domestic workers.

2. Article

   Forging stronger partnerships for decent work in Asia-Pacific

   01 March 2011

   By Cristina Tiron and Wolfgang Schiefer, Regional Unit for Partnerships, ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Assisted in part by the region’s faster recovery from the global economic crisis, Asia and the Pacific is seeing an increase in the number of middle-income countries. This enlarged group brings new opportunities to exchange knowledge and expertise and forge new partnerships - between agencies, institutions, governments - including South-South cooperation that can help realize decent work for all.

3. 

   Article

   Youth join green jobs push in China

   15 February 2011

   Yang Shumbo, a Chinese electronic sciences student invented a device to save electricity. He developed this into a business under a pilot project of the Greener Business Option (GBO), an ILO Green Jobs Programme initiative. GBO aims to encourage entrepreneurship in green businesses among young people. Report from Chengdu, China, by Satoshi Sasaki, Specialist on Enterprise Development and Job Creation, ILO Beijing and Vincent Jugault, Senior Specialist in Environment and Decent Work, ILO Bangkok.

2010

1. 

   Article

   Questions and answers on jobs recovery and the development of decent work for people in the Pacific Islands

   11 January 2010

   In February 2010, at Port Vila, Vanuatu, Labour Ministers, Senior Labour officials and representatives of worker and employer organizations from all eight countries – Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu – as well as Australia and New Zealand – took part in the first high-level gathering of its kind. After two days of rich debate a tripartite accord was adopted – The Port Vila Statement on Decent Work and the Pacific Action Plan for Decent Work. ILO Online spoke to Ms. Sachiko Yamamoto, the ILO’s Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific about the accord and development plans in the Pacific.

2007

1. 

   Article

   In Asia, informal work shifts but remains massive

   09 August 2007

   Despite a GDP growth rate twice the world average, more than 1 billion Asians still work in the informal economy. Most lack basic social protection and hold unproductive jobs with low earnings. An ILO report prepared for the Asian Employment Forum held on 13-15 August says the rapid shift from rural and agricultural employment to urban-based manufacturing and service-oriented work in developing Asia will continue and in some countries accelerate. ILO Online reports.

2. 

   Article

   Timor-Leste: Setting the STAGE for a brighter future

   13 July 2007

   Despite a significant boost in national income last year from oil revenues, Timor-Leste is amongst the world’s poorest nations. While unemployment in rural areas is at least 20 per cent, it reaches 43 per cent among urban youth. ILO Online reports from Timor-Leste where the ILO’s STAGE programme supports an enabling business environment that will be critical in the years ahead to create decent and gainful employment and reduce income poverty.

2006

1. 

   Article

   Child labour in Asia: The story of Thao

   04 May 2006

   Asia and the Pacific registered declines both in the child population and in the number of economically active children, but only a very small decrease in activity rates, according to the ILO's new Global Report "The end of child labour: Within reach". The ILO estimates that this region has the largest number of child workers in the 5-14 age group - some 122 million, with 62 million engaged in work that is considered hazardous. ILO Online reports from the Indonesian capital Jakarta.