SHAPING THE FUTURE HOW CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS CAN POWER HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

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Equal pay and reliable, affordable childcare will open opportunities for more women in paid employment Governments need to focus on strategies that will strengthen business confidence and support private sector growth that will in turn advance job growth. Without a stable macroeconomic environment and good governance, corruption knocks a significant percentage off growth, while weak rule of law opens the door to instability, insecurity and uncertainty. Political turmoil and road closures (hartals) as in Bangladesh, or street demonstrations, as recently seen in Thailand, pose significant challenges to business operations. When production is halted due to a lack of stability, countries lose their competitive edge, and domestic and foreign direct investment is diverted to other markets, with jobs vanishing in the process. Increase labour force participation of women: Labour force participation of women remains a major challenge in the region. A large number of female workers remain outside paid employment due to family responsibilities. While the contribution of unpaid work at home is significant, it should be more equally shared, and women should also have equal opportunities to pursue paid employment. Bringing more educated women to the workforce could deliver a boost BOX 2.2: Bringing more women into the workforce in Malaysia Malaysia has attained gender parity in education up to the tertiary level, but there is still a significant gender gap in the workforce, where less than half of women participate. At 47 percent in 2014, the labour force participation rate is among the lowest in South-east Asia. Nearly two-thirds of mothers who choose to stay at home cite family care as the primary reason. to productivity. In 2012, 47 percent of students enrolled in tertiary education were women. Yet many female college graduates never join the workforce, a tendency that will prevent the region from reaping a full demographic dividend. Countries in East Asia that achieved a higher dividend had a higher proportion of women in the labour market. For example, China’s female labour force participation rate at 64 percent is far above the world average of 51 percent. Some countries have taken proactive steps to boost women’s employment, such as Japan, which by 2020 aims to have women in 30 percent of leadership positions in the government. The Malaysian Government has announced new policies aimed at bringing more educated women to the workforce (Box 2.2). Critical policies to encourage women’s employment include ensuring equal pay and rights, safety and security, reasonable parental leave, and reliable, cost-effective provision of childcare, among others. SUPPORT GROWTH OF BUSINESSES, ENTREPRENEURS AND MARKETS The private sector is vital for job creation. Supporting businesses and entrepreneurs to provide new opportunities entails promoting a healthy strategic areas in Malaysia’s 2015 budget. The Government is partnering with private firms to ease women’s participation, including by offering tax incentives and grants to companies for providing quality day-care facilities and hiring mothers. The Government recently launched Career Comeback Grants for companies who bring back women who have taken career breaks. Non-participation poses a big loss to the economy, given that the country has invested heavily in women’s education. A World Bank study in 2012 estimated that women’s greater participation could provide a growth dividend of up to 0.4 percent a year. Malaysia aims to achieve high-income status by 2020, but cannot do so without bringing more women into the workforce. ‘Upholding the role of women’ is one of seven key Initiatives to strengthen women entrepreneurs comprise the Micro Credit and Small Business Loan Scheme, Get Malaysia Business Online and the Women Exporters Development Programme. By 2016, all Malaysian companies will be required to disclose their degree of gender diversity in their annual reports. Female labour force participation is key to the 11th Malaysia Plan for 2016-2020, ‘’Enhancing labour market operations to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.’’ 66 Sources: Bloomberg 2014, World Bank 2012b, Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysia, 2015.
investment climate, as well as encouraging the growth of new industries and markets. Increasing market access and widening trade networks can help expand production and stimulate greater employment. Nurture small and medium enterprises: These businesses are responsible for two-thirds of total employment in Asia-Pacific. 24 Helping them expand in size and number will be essential to accommodating a expanding workforce and ensuring that the benefits of economic growth reach the poor. Currently, they have relatively small shares in trade, receive only limited finance and face serious obstacles to growth, however. In 2012, loans to these businesses averaged only 25 percent of bank lending in the region, with significant variation across countries. Some countries have taken steps to facilitate lending—the central banks of Bangladesh, India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, for example, have set mandatory lending targets. There are credit guarantee schemes in place in Kazakhstan, Thailand, Viet Nam and several Pacific island countries. In some cases, national credit bureaus provide information on finance and credit ratings, and non-bank financial services are active in offering leasing, equity investment and insurance. Experience in Hong Kong, China (SAR) shows how financial support can have transformational impacts (Box 2.3). Beyond financing, some countries help small and medium enterprises get off the ground through assistance in gaining market access, increasing productivity, using IT and formalizing their operations, as well as by enacting concessional business regulations. 25 Empower women entrepreneurs: While women are key decision-makers in families, their roles in businesses are often very limited. The number of female-owned and run businesses is less than half that of men’s. Women tend to have greater barriers than men in starting businesses, accessing finance and owning assets. As a result, they typically own smaller businesses and operate with lower levels of capital. 26 Microfinance institutions providing low-income women with small, collateral-free loans have generated a surge of entrepreneurial energy among women in many Asia-Pacific countries. The Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India have demonstrated that poor women are creditworthy. In China, the Tianjin Women’s Business Incubator has helped more than 10,000 women entrepreneurs to start small businesses after losing their jobs in the 2009 global financial crisis. 27 Together, these experiences testify to the potential of women in businesses, and how extending financial support can be leveraged into a brighter future for women, their families and their communities. Loans targeted to women not only contribute to gender empowerment, but can also translate into higher investments in health and education of children. 28 At the same time, female entrepreneurship needs to move beyond microfinance. A World Bank report 29 shows that more women are in businesses in countries where it is easier to start a Helping small and medium enterprises to expand will be essential for creating more jobs BOX 2.3: Strong financial support helps small and medium enterprises thrive in Hong Kong, China (SAR) In Hong Kong, China (SAR), business-friendly policies have attracted investors at home and from abroad. Small and medium enterprises are an integral part of the economy, comprising 98 percent of all businesses, and providing employment to 47 percent of the labour force. The Government supports small and medium enterprises with a wide variety of funding mechanisms, including the SME Loan Guarantee Scheme and the SME Export Marketing Fund. The SME Development Fund provides start-up capital and helps enterprises expand in external markets. A resource centre, Support and Consultation for SMEs (SUC- CESS), offers legal and business-related advice. Other encouraging factors include preferential market access to mainland China and elsewhere, excellent financial market infrastructure, and a transparent and well-regulated economy. Source: Government of Hong Kong 2015. 67
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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
Page 29: Chapter 1 HOW CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS
Page 32 and 33: sustainable, reaching everyone whil
Page 34 and 35: FIGURE 1.1: The Human Development I
Page 36 and 37: TABLE 1.1: Asia-Pacific still has l
Page 38 and 39: married couples to have children, a
Page 40 and 41: FIGURE 1.5: Population pyramids in
Page 42 and 43: FIGURE 1.8: The median age is high
Page 44 and 45: FIGURE 1.10: Disparities in fertili
Page 46 and 47: Improved overall human development
Page 48 and 49: TABLE 1.5: Countries in Asia-Pacifi
Page 50 and 51: “When relatively large generation
Page 52 and 53: 38 Having fewer dependents on worki
Page 54 and 55: 40 In developed Asia- Pacific, the
Page 56 and 57: TABLE 1.6: Demographic dividends fl
Page 58 and 59: 44
Page 61 and 62: 2. MORE PEOPLE AT WORK: THE FOUNDAT
Page 63 and 64: encouraged labour-intensive industr
Page 65 and 66: FIGURE 2.3: Peaks within subregions
Page 67 and 68: A DEMOGRAPHIC RETURN FOR HUMAN DEVE
Page 69 and 70: BOX 2.1: Women bear a larger burden
Page 71 and 72: FIGURE 2.8: Growth in labour produc
Page 73 and 74: 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: make this a key aim of national dev
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 126 and 127: BOX 3.10: Germany’s vocational tr
Page 128 and 129: BOX 3.12: Partnering with youth in
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116
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4. AGEING SOCIETIES: NEW OPPORTUNIT
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FIGURE 4.1: Asia-Pacific is one of
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TABLE 4.1: East Asia is the oldest
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BOX 4.2: Responses to poverty among
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BOX 4.3: A plan of action for older
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FIGURE 4.9: Per capita health-care
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BOX 4.5: China moves towards univer
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TABLE 4.3: Social pensions are an i
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FIGURE 4.12: Pension replacement ra
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BOX 4.7: Increasing links between p
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cupy space in some public buildings
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ment bodies, encourage regular inte
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BOX 4.9: Ageing countries begin enc
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help coordinate the work of other g
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for older people. Many advanced cou
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action. Free public transport, and
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Chapter 5 TAPPING THE HUMAN DYNAMIS
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In the last 30 years, Asia-Pacific
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FIGURE 5.3: Even countries with few
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FIGURE 5.6: Most people will contin
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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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