BUSAN – Faced with a massive jobs gap between economic performance and job creation, the ILO's 14th Asian Regional meeting gathered over 400 government, worker and employer delegates here in August to discuss measures aimed at ensuring that economic growth translates into productive employment and decent work for all.
Delegates called for the creation of Asian Decent Work Decade – for the period up to 2015 – during which member States from Asia, the Pacific and the Arab States declared "we will make a concentrated and sustained effort to progressively realize decent work in all countries of our diverse continent".
The Decent Work Decade was also designed to make an important contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which aim to reduce poverty by the year 2015. The Decade will promote the ILO's Decent Work Agenda which stands on the pillars of rights at work, employment, social protection and social dialogue.
"We resolve to ensure that Asia continues to provide global policy leadership in making decent work for all a central objective of our relevant national and international policies as well as our national development strategies," the conclusions said.
The conclusions noted that the ILO's Decent Work Agenda has become integrated into the national agendas of many countries, as well as the international development agenda. And delegates strongly endorsed the Outcome Document of the UN World Summit in 2005 and the Ministerial Declaration of the high-level segment of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in July 2006.
"Our focus is enhancing productivity, competitiveness and growth," said Juan Somavia, Director-General of the ILO. "The answer isn't charity, giveaways or handouts. The best social programme is a decent job. The dignity and reward of honest hard work, that's what people want."
For more information and complete audio and visual coverage of the Asian Regional Meeting, please see /public/english/bureau/inf/event/14asrm/index.htm.
The asian decent work decade: what's involved?
In just a few short years decent work has moved from its origins as a vision at the ILO to become a part of national policy debates and agendas. The UN World Summit in New York in 2005 and its Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2006 raised the idea of decent work to the highest political levels. Regional and other international organizations are also being called upon to work closely with the ILO to help promote decent work and poverty reduction.
This is a big challenge in Asia and the Pacific. In spite of strong economic performance, employment growth has remained disappointing. Between 2004 and 2005 employment in the region increased by 1.4 per cent while the economy grew by about 6.2 per cent. At approximately 1.8 billion, Asia's labour force is enormous, and will grow by an estimated 240 million, or 13.4 per cent, in the next 10 years. The most rapid labour force increases will be in countries with the highest numbers of working poor and the largest informal economies. Unless economic growth becomes more employment-intensive or there is a significant and sustainable increase in growth, the prospects of realizing decent work goals are bleak.
To tackle the issue the tripartite constituents reaffirmed their commitment to implement their national plans of action for decent work, reflecting each country's priorities. Help from the ILO will be available if they so require. Plans will focus on ways to:
- Promote sustainable productivity growth, competitive economies, job creation and equal opportunities for decent and productive work, with special attention to the needs of vulnerable workers;
- Promote the ratification of core labour standards;
- Promote access to education for all, to ensure workers have the skills that will enhance their long-term employability;
- Promote decent work opportunities and access to entrepreneurship for young women and men, in particular by easing the school-to-work transition and the sharing of good practices;
- Combat all forms of child labour;
- Improve dialogue about and the management of labour migration, to benefit both sending and receiving countries and protect the rights and equal treatment of migrant workers;
- Improve effective labour market governance by adopting, implementing and reviewing labour laws and social policies in the light of the objectives of full and productive work of the Decent Work Agenda;
- Develop labour management cooperation, bipartite partnership mechanisms. frameworks for social dialogue, and other appropriate institutions and regulations, as important elements for the effective and fair functioning of labour markets;
- Extend the effectiveness and coverage of social protection for all, including to workers in the informal economy;
- Promote occupational safety and health; and
- Strengthen the capacity of social partners and labour administrations.
The challenges ahead are tremendous but the goal of realizing decent work in the region is not beyond reach. As the ILO's constituents themselves said, in the Conclusions of the 14th AsRM, "We are convinced that the ILO's Decent Work Agenda can contribute to a sustainable route out of poverty, assist in addressing the growing economic inequalities both within and between countries in the region, and thus make an important contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals."