This paper reviews how skills shortages have developed during the transformation of the economies of East and South-East Asia’s more dynamic economies, the adjustments made by firms to these shortages and how governments tried to anticipate and remedy them through education and training and through immigration. It starts with a review of the transformation of these economies as indicated by the changing shares of different sectors in GDP and employment, followed by case studies of selected countries where relevant experience has been documented by earlier observers, and ends with a brief analysis of how the labour immigration option that has been used and with what consequences.

This is part of a series of papers being published by the Tripartite Action for the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers in the ASEAN Region (ASEAN TRIANGLE) project, ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.