ILO regional meeting
Greater initiative called for inclusive growth
They placed importance in tripartite talks to deal with the employment challenges posed by the growing geo-political issues
Although Asia and the Pacific region started moving towards growth after a rebound from the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine war and the following global turmoil made the growth highly uncertain in 2023, changing all the equations.
Against such a backdrop, it needs to ensure inclusive growth to retain the development in the region, said speakers attending the 17th Asia and the Pacific regional meeting organised by the International Labour Organization (ILO) at a Singapore hotel on Tuesday.
They laid emphasis on tripartite talks to deal with the employment challenges posed by the growing geo-political issues.
Labour ministers and state ministers of 19 countries, including Singapore, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, India and Bangladesh, are participating in the four-day regional meeting. In all, about 500 representatives from 33 countries, including the government as well as owners and workers, joined the event.
Addressing the inaugural session as the chief guest, Singapore President Halimah Yacob said, “The pandemic and recent economic upheavals have given us another opportunity to rethink our growth model. The regional meeting of ILO provides us a platform to unite in dialogue to navigate the uncertainties that lie ahead of us.”
She hailed the ILO, saying it plays a critical role in ensuring a fairer and more inclusive growth model where everyone has a stake.
President Halimah Yacob noted that there is no alternative to tripartite dialogue to deal with employment challenges. She said, “A key reason why we were able to move quickly to address the concerns of companies and workers is because of the high level of trust that exists among the tripartite partners. The three sides have formulated strategies to deal with the challenges and implemented those effectively.”
“In the globalised world where capital can cross borders freely, extreme cost-cutting measures driven by intense competition can result in a race to the bottom for wages and labour standards if left unchecked,” she added.
ILO director general Gilbert Hongbo highlighted in his speech that the political and economic crisis in the wake of the coronavirus and climate change have undermined workers' social protection.
“More than ever, workers are getting by on informal work, in jobs that provide little in the way of protection and security. We are now living under circumstances when labour standards, employment policies and social protection matter more than ever,” Houngbo said.
The ILO DG also noted that they want everyone to be able to share equally in the benefits of future, human-centred growth. Both the Asia-Pacific and Arab States labour markets have recorded a partial rebound from the impact of Covid-19 yet with conditions expected to remain difficult into 2023 prospects for investment, growth and full labour market recovery remain elusive.
Houngbo shed light on the issue that even without the considerable impact of the pandemic, structural weaknesses within the Asia-Pacific and Arab States labour markets hampered decent and equitable job growth.
Limited progress on gender equality, the lack of social protection coverage for large parts of the population, stagnant labour productivity, high youth unemployment rates and persistently high levels of informality were all identified as major issues facing both regions.
“These underlying weaknesses need to be tackled if we are to deliver social justice and decent work,” Houngbo said.
The ILO director general also stressed the importance of well-functioning labour market institutions.
“We saw during the pandemic response how the countries that had stronger labour market institutions were able to counteract some of the crisis shocks more efficiently and effectively,” he said.
However, he recognised the challenges faced by ILO member countries to commit more resources during the current economic climate.
“It is not an easy task to scale up action toward the ILO’s decent work and social justice mandate. To advance through these turbulent times, we need to heighten our partnership with the multilateral system and work together through a social justice coalition,” he added.
Chair of the regional meeting and Singapore's manpower minister Tan See Leng said his country handled the employment crisis during the coronavirus outbreak based on the ideals of tripartite cooperation and social dialogue.
He said that through the tripartite talks, Singapore had at that time provided job security as well as ensured that retrenchments are reasonable, provided support to retrenched workers, and expanded skills development programmes.
The opening session was addressed by Hiroyuki Matsui of Japan as the employers' representative and Felix Anthony of Fiji as the workers' representative.