Context:
Recently, The International Labour Organisation released the Asia-Pacific Employment and Social Outlook 2024.
Key findings of the report
International Labour Organisation (ILO)
- It was created in 1919, as part of the Treaty of Versailles.
- To promote social justice and internationally recognized human and labor rights, pursuing its founding mission that social justice is essential to universal and lasting peace.
- India is a founder member of the International Labour Organization.
- General Assembly of the ILO Meets every year in the month of June.
- Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
Labour market trends:
- Economic Growth: Real GDP growth in the region is projected at 4.4 percent in 2024, more than 1 percentage point below its 2000–19 average, and is projected to fall to 4.2 percent in 2025.
- Employment: The region’s employment-to-population ratio is in long-term decline, projected to continue over the coming years, falling from 58.2 percent in 2023 to 57.4 percent in 2026.
- Unemployment: The region’s unemployment rate is projected to remain roughly unchanged in 2024 and 2025, at 4.2 percent, which corresponds to 87.8 million unemployed in 2024.
- The gender gap in labour force participation remains significant at 28 percentage points in 2023, with only a marginal reduction over the past three decades
Young women face higher NEET (Not in Employment, Education, or Training) rates compared to young men.
- It highlights how the Asia-Pacific region is undergoing rapid population aging, with the ratio of people aged 65 years and above expected to double by 2050.
- Informal employment remains high, with two-thirds of workers in informal jobs in 2023, only a slight improvement over the past decade.
Trends and challenges of aging:
- The rate of population aging in Asia and the Pacific is alarming. The region’s population is projected to age as much over the next 27 years as the populations in high-income countries in the rest of the world have aged over the past 60.
- In many countries in the region, efforts to guarantee the right to universal and adequate pensions for older persons face the double challenge of inadequate coverage and benefits of existing pension schemes and a projected rise in the economic dependency ratio.
- The economic dependency ratio, defined as the ratio of those not employed to those employed among the region’s working-age population (aged 15 years and above), is projected to rise from 0.72 in 2023 to 0.90 in 2050.
- Despite aging populations, the region should be able to achieve continued growth of income per capita over the coming decades if strong productivity growth can be maintained.