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Asia-Pacific Employment and Social Outlook 2022: Rethinking sectoral strategies for a human-centred future of work

Labour markets are recovering from the COVID-19 crisis in Asia and the Pacific, but now face new challenges like inflation and geopolitical tensions. The report gives the regional labour market context and makes a first-time assessment of regional sectoral estimates to highlight which sectors are growing as sources of jobs, which are shrinking and which harbour opportunities for “decent work”.

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.