iii
Asia–Pacific Employment and Social Outlook 2022
Foreword
There is a hustle and bustle in most areas of Asia and the Pacific again after two years of quiet streets and
limited mobility. Tourists are back, restaurants and shops are open and traffic jams in urban areas have
resumed, with cars, buses, taxis and motorbikes full of daily commuters, school kids and deliveries. Look
closer though and you will spot shops that remain boarded up, many “for sale” signs on buildings, more
street sleepers than usual and an increased number of street protests – all visible signs that the region has
not yet fully bounced back from the blow of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The limited recovery is further reflected in the labour market statistics presented in this report. This
third edition of the biennial Asia–Pacific Employment and Social Outlook shows that the number of persons
working in the region in 2021 had not yet surpassed the number of workers in 2019. The number of persons
remaining outside the labour market remained inflated as well. The COVID-19 crisis stands out in comparison
to previous crises that impacted the region, namely the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98 and the global
financial crisis of 2007–09, as the only one to disrupt the rising trend in employment numbers at the regional
level. And let us not forget the loss in working hours and associated income losses experienced during the
COVID-19 crisis that, added to the loss of jobs give a fuller depiction of the impact felt.
The report discusses where labour markets are recovering, even if now confronted by a barrage of new
challenges like inflation and geopolitical tensions that have created headwinds to employment-friendly
macroeconomic policies and enterprise resilience. It 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”.
One thing that I find especially valuable about this edition of the Outlook is its reminder of the continued
dominance of the “big” sources of labour income in the region, these being agriculture, manufacturing
and wholesale and retail trade, where 60 per cent of the region’s workforce is engaged. On average, jobs in
these sectors are more informal than formal, more low skill than high skill and more likely to see workers left
without social protection or job security. The limited scope for decent work in these sectors reflects in part
the constrained capacity of labour market institutions to cover enterprises and workers within all industrial
sectors equally in the national framework of labour protection and employment policies. It also has to do
with the challenges that workers and micro and small enterprises in these sectors experience to organize
themselves for effective collective bargaining.
Knowing this gives us a clear starting point for action in pursuit of a human-centred recovery that is inclusive,
sustainable and resilient in the Asia and Pacific region. The International Labour Organization stands
ready to apply all the tools at our disposal to work with governments as well as workers’ and employers’
organizations to strengthen and expand labour market governance for targeted support to the workers and
enterprises in the large sectors. Transforming work into decent work within all sectors, but especially those
showing the largest decent work deficits, will bring inclusive growth to Asia and the Pacific and set the region
back on track to a human-centred future of work.
Chihoko Asada-Miyakawa
Assistant Director-General and
Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific
International Labour Organization
Foreword
