Share this story!            

ILO hails Malaysian jobs drive, reduction in poverty

BANGKOK: In Asia, only Malaysia has succeeded in turning impressive economic growth over the past three decades into jobs creation and poverty reduction, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said. That was one of the conclusions of a joint report by the UN Development Programme and ILO that looked at eight Asian countries: Cambodia, the Philippines, China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The study focused on the relationship between Asia's fast economic growth to its generation of jobs as a means of poverty reduction. "Asia-Pacific clearly has reason to be proud of its significant contribution to world economic growth over the past two decades," said Hafiz A Pasha, UN assistant secretary general and regional director of the UN Development Programme Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. "Yet while this has been the case, we also see the region facing a continuing decline in employment growth." The report, unveiled at a meeting of the two UN agencies in Bangkok this week, concluded that with one exception - Malaysia - all the Asian countries studied experienced inadequate employment growth and the problem has become worse in recent years.

Malaysia, which has experienced an average growth in its gross domestic product of 6.8% from 1970 to 2004, has seen the percentage of its people living below the poverty line drop from 52% in 1970 to 4% in 2004.

"In the 34 years between 1970 to 2004, the annual growth of the labour force averaged 3.16%," the report said.

It noted that Malaysia has succeeded in shifting its work force from the agricultural sector to the services and manufacturing sectors and had encouraged immigration, thus expanding its labour force.

Real wages in the manufacturing and services sectors had increased at annual rates of 2.8% and 2.6%, respectively, from 1972 to 2000, it added.

It pointed to Malaysia's economic policy initiated in 1972 that focused on poverty reduction as a major factor in the country's performance on the labour front.

The ILO said other Asian countries had been less successful in making the switch from agriculture to export-oriented industries and services and, without giving examples, said that in some cases, they had harmed jobs growth through government policies. courtesy gulf times

Home | Business

Share this story!