SHAPING THE FUTURE HOW CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS CAN POWER HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

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BOX 3.10: Germany’s vocational training system: a model for Asia-Pacific? Germany’s vocational training programmes are recognized worldwide as highly effective. Around two-thirds of high school graduates choose to enter vocational training, an appealing career path for more than 350 occupations. Students have apprenticeships in companies and take classes once or twice a week that complement work experience with theoretical training. Oral, written and practical exams are based on material taught at school as well as on-the-job learning. Much of the success of the programme is due to meeting multiple needs—among students, businesses and the Government. Students obtain a well-recognized and readily marketable professional certification. A basic monthly stipend of about 680 euros allows them to become independent at an earlier age than in many countries. In 2013, about 450,000 trainee positions were available, and nearly all of them were filled, demonstrating keen demand. For businesses, the vocational programme helps identify candidates and employ them at a lower cost. Companies save on training new employees, searching for candidates and advertising for posts. On its side, the Government has been able to meet targets to keep youth unemployment low—it has been beneath rates in all other European countries for decades. This has motivated many European countries, as well as some in Asia-Pacific, such as China, India and Viet Nam, to adapt the German model. Sources: Young Germany 2013, German Missions in the United States 2016. 112 Removing obstacles to doing business can help create jobs for youth people in remote areas. Protecting the security and welfare of young rural migrants and lowskilled female migrants, as among the most socially and economically vulnerable groups, will enhance their well-being and the potential contributions of migration to human development. Well-managed and implemented social protection programmes should be structured to cover all people across the life cycle, including young workers, and ensure that no one falls through a minimum ‘floor’ of income and well-being. Extend support to youth entrepreneurship. Young people are creative, enterprising and not afraid to take risks. They bring unique ideas to businesses and markets. Young entrepreneurs often are more aware of and responsive to new market trends, have more faith in other youth and tend to employ younger workers. In the last few years, the number of young entrepreneurs and venture capitalists has increased. An important reason for this trend is that high economic growth rates in China and India have encouraged more Western-trained youth to return home to start their own companies. Removing obstacles to doing business is an important way to create jobs for youth, especially if coupled with sound management training, advice and mentoring, access to credit and markets, and labour market reforms. Entrepreneurship development programmes are effective in developing the capacity of youth to start their own businesses, since many have limited knowledge and experience of the processes involved. Across the region, there has been little emphasis on entrepreneurship development, although Japan offers interesting examples of entrepreneurship education in schools. Its Youth Independence Challenge Plan requires entrepreneurial education that is both participatory and experiential in elementary, junior high and senior high schools, and its Dream Gate service raises awareness among youth about entrepreneurship. 102 In some cases, programmes to cultivate entrepreneurial skills could facilitate the transition from self-employment in the informal economy to microenterprise development in the formal economy (Box 3.11). Improve access to finance. A key barrier to business entry for youth is the lack of financing. Prospects for finding capital for start-ups can be constrained by their brief credit history and limited collateral. Other obstacles include legal and administrative hurdles, red tape, and favouritism that only allows a handful of youth with political connections to thrive in the market, a major loss in terms of the larger youth talent
BOX 3.11: Bringing youth into business in the Republic of Korea In the Republic of Korea, entrepreneurship among young people has declined since the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s. In 2000, nearly 55 percent of owners of start-ups were in their 20s and 30s, but that figure fell to 20 percent in 2011. Youth face several challenges to succeeding in venture capitalism. Because the economy is dominated by large conglomerates, small and medium enterprises struggle to find a foothold in a highly competitive environment. Access to finance can be limited. And the education system produces more learners than innovators. The start-up rate in the Republic of Korea is much lower than in OECD economies with similar income levels. To break this cycle, the Government has taken a number of steps, including by providing generous financial support for youth entrepreneurs, for research and development, and for investments in innovative business products. Youth Business 1000, for example, was initiated in 2011 to assist young entrepreneurs with exceptional business ideas. The programme opened up youth business curator centres that accommodate up to 1,000 young entrepreneurs, and provided a start-up fund of 1 million won ($900). Selected participants receive guidance from the Seoul Business Agency and can use programme facilities for up to a year until their business takes off. In its first year, Youth Business 1000 created 5,892 jobs. It was later extended to involve the Dreaming Youth shop, which sells products from centre graduates at a retail location in downtown Seoul and online. The programme has now successfully assisted over 2,600 young entrepreneurs who have established 1,400 enterprises. Sources: Ernst & Young 2014, Seoul Solution 2014. pool and potential business opportunities. Some governments in the region are now assisting young entrepreneurs through different financing mechanisms, including grants, soft loans, subsidies and venture financing. For example, Mongolia offers a one-off grant of up to one million tugrug ($500) to youth if they start a household-based business or are self-employed. 103 Crowdfunding is emerging as an alternative tool for young people to stimulate innovation, secure seed money and create jobs. Governments could back crowdfunding with forward-thinking regulations, access to technology, and tools to optimize benefits and manage risks. In addition to improving access to finance for youth, offering fiscal incentives and reducing bureaucratic hurdles can support youth in starting and maintaining their own businesses. Recognizing the importance of fiscal incentives, recently Indian government announced 100 billion rupee ($1.5 billion) fund, a three-year break from paying income tax on profits, Rs 500-crore ($75 million) per year credit guarantee mechanism, and exemption from capital gains tax to promote start-ups among young entrepreneurs. EM<strong>POWER</strong> YOUTH AS LEADERS OF TOMORROW Today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders, whether in business, politics, media, academia or non-profit organizations. The more familiar they are with out-of-school, real-life situations and challenges, the better they will be equipped to manage tasks that require maturity and responsibility. Many youth say that they are interested in giving back to their communities or countries, as it gives them a sense of accomplishment. Cultivating youth leadership through volunteerism with public benefits. Volunteer public projects that benefit communities provide youth with multifaceted learning experiences. Young volunteers learn how to solve problems, work together in teams, and execute tasks with limited time and resources. They acquire skills that are not taught in schools but that are highly valuable to future employment. Some may bring to the table new skills, such as those related to technology and youth networking. There are numerous examples of youth volunteering for community development projects worldwide. For instance, in the Voice of Crowdfunding is emerging as an alternative tool for stimulating innovation 113
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ASIA-PACIFIC HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPO
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ASIA-PACIFIC HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPO
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FOREWORD We live in times of great
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Asia-Pacific H
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Table of Contents Foreword iii Pref
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1.15 Population age-composition is
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Acronyms ADB Asian Development Bank
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Overview SHAPING THE FUTURE: HOW CH
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HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN ASIA-PACIFIC:
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FIGURE 2: Wealthier countries tend
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a strong emphasis on protecting wor
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could provide job matching assistan
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Asia-Pacific leave the workforce at
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WHAT’S AHEAD IN THIS REPORT This
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Chapter 1 HOW CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS
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sustainable, reaching everyone whil
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FIGURE 1.1: The Human Development I
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TABLE 1.1: Asia-Pacific still has l
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married couples to have children, a
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FIGURE 1.5: Population pyramids in
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FIGURE 1.8: The median age is high
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FIGURE 1.10: Disparities in fertili
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Improved overall human development
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TABLE 1.5: Countries in Asia-Pacifi
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“When relatively large generation
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38 Having fewer dependents on worki
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40 In developed Asia- Pacific, the
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TABLE 1.6: Demographic dividends fl
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44
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2. MORE PEOPLE AT WORK: THE FOUNDAT
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encouraged labour-intensive industr
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FIGURE 2.3: Peaks within subregions
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A DEMOGRAPHIC RETURN FOR HUMAN DEVE
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BOX 2.1: Women bear a larger burden
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FIGURE 2.8: Growth in labour produc
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WHAT’S BEEN LEARNED IN CHINA, JAP
Page 75 and 76: FIGURE 2.13: Japan is past its work
Page 77 and 78: FIGURE 2.15: Thailand still has tim
Page 79 and 80: make this a key aim of national dev
Page 81 and 82: investment climate, as well as enco
Page 83 and 84: TABLE 2.4: Shares of workers in the
Page 85 and 86: Even before leaving home, migrant w
Page 87 and 88: Promote health and safety at work:
Page 89 and 90: BOX 2.8: Malaysia transforms an ind
Page 91 and 92: of resilient infrastructure are joi
Page 93: Chapter 3 NURTURING CHILDREN, UNLOC
Page 96 and 97: Asia-Pacific is home to 1.7 billion
Page 98 and 99: Commendable progress in education m
Page 100 and 101: Quality primary education mitigates
Page 102 and 103: In most Asia-Pacific countries, sec
Page 104 and 105: Strong tertiary education is a buil
Page 106 and 107: FIGURE 3.3: Access to tertiary educ
Page 108 and 109: 94 TABLE 3.9: Youth illiteracy has
Page 110 and 111: TABLE 3.11: Child mortality rates b
Page 112 and 113: BOX 3.7: Malnutrition and disabilit
Page 114 and 115: Despite social and economic progres
Page 116 and 117: FIGURE 3.8: The share of youth who
Page 118 and 119: 104 Young migrants are highly vulne
Page 120 and 121: as an important challenge. But they
Page 122 and 123: TABLE 3.15: Some countries with lar
Page 124 and 125: Immunization saves children’s liv
Page 128 and 129: BOX 3.12: Partnering with youth in
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Page 133 and 134: 4. AGEING SOCIETIES: NEW OPPORTUNIT
Page 135 and 136: FIGURE 4.1: Asia-Pacific is one of
Page 137 and 138: TABLE 4.1: East Asia is the oldest
Page 139 and 140: BOX 4.2: Responses to poverty among
Page 141 and 142: BOX 4.3: A plan of action for older
Page 143 and 144: FIGURE 4.9: Per capita health-care
Page 145 and 146: BOX 4.5: China moves towards univer
Page 147 and 148: TABLE 4.3: Social pensions are an i
Page 149 and 150: FIGURE 4.12: Pension replacement ra
Page 151 and 152: BOX 4.7: Increasing links between p
Page 153 and 154: cupy space in some public buildings
Page 155 and 156: ment bodies, encourage regular inte
Page 157 and 158: BOX 4.9: Ageing countries begin enc
Page 159 and 160: help coordinate the work of other g
Page 161 and 162: for older people. Many advanced cou
Page 163 and 164: action. Free public transport, and
Page 165: Chapter 5 TAPPING THE HUMAN DYNAMIS
Page 168 and 169: In the last 30 years, Asia-Pacific
Page 170 and 171: FIGURE 5.3: Even countries with few
Page 172 and 173: FIGURE 5.6: Most people will contin
Page 174 and 175: 160 Social, cultural and economic i
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The benefits of urbanization have n
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BOX 5.2: Pioneering urban poverty r
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vehicles on the road. Beijing issue
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Municipal governments in Asia-Pacif
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TABLE 5.4: Revenue mobilization opt
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172 City governments need to have t
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Investing in essential infrastructu
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176 in East Asian cities, and occur
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BOX 5.9: The Republic of Korea emba
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180
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6. AN AGENDA FOR ACTION: SHAPING TH
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Development Report argues, decent w
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with ministries overseeing youth, e
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This is an urgent priority in a reg
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SUSTAINING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT ACROSS
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plan automatically enrols people in
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BOX 6.3: Developing Delhi’s metro
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End Notes CHAPTER 1 1. UNFPA 2014b.
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63. WHO 2014b. 64. UNFPA 2012. 65.
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produces 40 percent of total econom
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206 The Asia Foundation. 2013. “T
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208 CODI (Community Organizations D
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210 Global Migration Group. 2014.
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212 Janwani. 2010. “Annual Report
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214 ———. 2012a. OECD Employme
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216 ———. 2011. “Follow-up t
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218 York. [www.unfpa.org/sites/defa
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———. 2012c. Malaysia Economic
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tables include the Caribbean countr
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224
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TABLE 2: Trends in the Human Develo
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TABLE 4: Gender Inequality Index 22
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TABLE 6: Trends in income poverty,
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TABLE 8: Fertility rate and crude d
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TABLE 10: Trends and share of child
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TABLE 12: Trends and share of young
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TABLE 14: Trends and share of older
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TABLE 16: Education indicators and
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TABLE 17: Health indicators 242
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TABLE 18: Employment and unemployme
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TABLE 19: International trade, fina
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ABOUT ASIA-PACIFIC HUMAN DEVELOPMEN
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SHAPING THE FUTURE HOW CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS CAN POWER HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

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