OVERVIEW OF ASEAN ACTIVITIES ON
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENTPriorities in Labour and Employment
Dr. Donald Tambunan
Social Welfare, Women, Labour and Migrant Workers Division
ASEAN Secretariat
The 2nd ASEAN HR Conference: Human Resource for Economic Recovery and Development,
25 May 2010, Ha Noi.
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Overview of Labour Force in ASEAN Region
•
Labour Market in ASEAN –up to 2007 (source: ILO report, 2008)
Employment in ASEAN Member States increased from 260.6 million
in 2006 to 268.5 million in 2007 – 7.9 mio additional jobs.
Employment growth particularly strong in Indonesia (4.7%), Malaysia
(2.6%), Singapore (2.5% among resident population and 6.6% when
non-resident are included), and the Philippines (2.4 %)
Shift towards industry and services. Employment in industry and
services expanded by 5.1 and 3.3% respectively. Job growth in
agriculture only 1.9%. 72% of the region’s employment growth in
industry and services.
Number of vulnerable workers remained massive, estimated 161
million workers, or 60% of the ASEAN workforce in 2007
•
Different situations after the Global Financial Crisis in 2008/9 (to be
reported by ILO)
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Mechanism for ASEAN Cooperation in Labour and
Migrant Workers
ASEAN SUMMIT
ASEAN COORDINATING COUNCIL
ASEAN SOCIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY COUNCIL
ASEAN LABOUR MINISTERS MEETING (ALMM)
SENIOR LABOUR OFFICIALS MEETING (SLOM)
SLOM WORKING GROUP ON
PROGRESSIVE LABOUR
PRACTICES TO ENHANCE THE
COMPETITIVENESS OF ASEAN
(SLOM-WG)
ASEAN COMMITTEE ON THE
IMPLEMENTION OF THE ASEAN
DECLARATION ON THE
PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF
MIGRANT WORKERS (ACMW)
ASEAN
OCCUPATIONAL
SAFETY AND HEALTH
NETWORK
(OSHNET)
SLOM WG ON THE HIV
PREVENTION AND
CONTROL ON THE
WORK PLACE
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Human Resources Development
ASEAN Frameworks for Cooperation in
Labour
• ASEAN Charter (ratified in December 2008)
• ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the
Rights of Migrant Workers (Jan 2007)
• ASEAN Commitments on HIV and AIDS (Jan 2007)
• Cooperation Agreement between ASEAN Secretariat and
ILO (March 2007)
• ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprint (March
2009)
• ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint (Nov 2007)
• ALM Work Programme (2001-2010)
• ALM Work Programme (2010-2015)
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ASEAN Frameworks (cont)
• Human Resources in the ASEAN Charter
One of the purposes of ASEAN as enshrined in the
ASEAN Charter provides the basic principles for the
cooperation, i.e.:
“…to develop human resources through closer
cooperation in education and life-long learning, and
in science and technology, for the empowerment of
the peoples of ASEAN and for the strengthening of the
ASEAN Community”
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ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprint
(2009 – 2015)
• Selected Strategic Objectives concerning labour and
employment:
Investing in human resource development: Enhance and improve the
capacity of ASEAN human resource through strategic programmes and
develop a qualified, competent and well-prepared ASEAN labour force
that would benefit from as well as cope with the challenges of regional
integration. Strategic objective on
Promotion of decent work: Incorporating decent work principles in
ASEAN work culture, safety and health at work place and ensuring that
the promotion of entrepreneurship becomes an integral part of
ASEAN’s employment policy to achieve a forward-looking employment
strategy.
Strengthening entrepreneurship skills for women, youth, elderly and
persons with disabilities: Increase the participation of women, youth,
elderly, persons with disabilities, vulnerable and marginalised groups in
the productive workforce by enhancing their entrepreneurial skills,
particularly to improve their social well-being and contribute towards
national development and regional economic integration.
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ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint
“Free Flow of Skilled Labour” is one of the five core elements under
“Single Market and Production Base” in the AEC Blueprint
Relevant actions:
• Enhance cooperation among ASEAN University Network (AUN)
members to increase mobility for both students and staff within
the region; and
• Develop core competencies and qualifications for
job/occupational and trainers skills required in the priority
services sectors (by 2009); and in other services sectors (from
2010 to 2015); and
• Strengthen the research capabilities of each ASEAN Member
Country in terms of promoting skills, job placements, and
developing labour market information networks among ASEAN
Member Countries.
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ALM Work Programme 2001-2010:
Relevant Priorities
(i) Priorities on HRD and employment generation
Objectives:
•
Formulate strategies that enhance job creation and promote
employment
•
Facilitate and enhance capability of AMS to find ways of
generating employment
•
To formulate ASEAN strategies to promote cooperation in the
generation of employment opportunities
(ii) HRD Planning and labour market monitoring
Objective:
•
Enhance capacity for formulating and implementing a
comprehensive and integrated HRD strategy on a continuous
basis
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ALM Work Programme 2001-2010:
Relevant Priorities Priority areas (cont.)
(iii) Enhancing labour mobility
Objectives:
• To ensure the availability of competent and skilled manpower
through better HRD strategies and plans;
• To promote better mobility of labour through the establishment of
networks of professional accreditation bodies as part of a larger
strategy to enhance labour market flexibility in the region;
• To promote faster integration of CLMV (Cambodia, Lao PDR,
Myanmar and Viet Nam) members into the ASEAN; and
• To enhance the capability of AMS to cope with economic downturns
by information exchanges and best practices.
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Selected HRD-related activities in ASEAN
• ASEAN Plus Three Workshop on Youth Entrepreneurship,
Nov 2007
• ASEAN-OSHNET Plus Three Policy Dialogue on OSH
Management System, Dec 2007
• 11th Human Resource Development (HRD) Programme
for Officials in ASEAN Countries, 25 Nov – 4 Dec 2008,
Seoul
• Regular convening of the ASEAN HR Conference (1st
Summit/Conference, 22 Oct 2008, Singapore; 2nd
Conference, 25 May 2010, Ha Noi)
• ASEAN-Japan Collaboration Programme for
Strengthening the Basis of Human Resources
Development in CLMV Countries-Phase II (2008-2011)
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Selected activities (cont)
• Enhancing Skills Recognition Systems in ASEAN
(2004-2007)
• ASEAN-ILO Technical Workshop on Labour Market
Statistics, October 2007, Putrajaya, Malaysia
• Workshop on Labour Market Information and
Analysis in ASEAN countries, 2-4 March 2010,
Bandar Seri Begawan
• ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services
(AFAS)—Initiative led by the ASEAN Economic
Ministers
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ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS):
brief progress on MRA
• Launched by ASEAN Economic Ministers at the 5th ASEAN Summit,
15 Dec 1995
• The AFAS is aimed at substantially eliminating restrictions to trade in
trade services among ASEAN Member States in order to improve the
efficiency and competitiveness of ASEAN services suppliers.
• At the 7th Summit (Bandar Seri Begawan, 5 Nov 2001), ASEAN
Leaders mandated the start of negotiations of MRA to facilitate the
flow of professional services under AFAS
• An MRA enables professional service providers registered/certified
in its signatory countries to be equally recognised in other signatory
countries
• MRA does not warrant unresctricted free flow of foreign
professionals, relevant domestic regulations and market demand
still applies.
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Concluded MRAs in ASEAN
• Engineering Services
• Nursing Services
• Architectural Services
• Surveying Qualifications
• Accountancy Services
• Medical Practioners
• Dental Practioners
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Implementation of ASEAN MRAs
• ASEAN is now focusing on implementing all signed MRAs
• Typical processes in implementation preparation phase
- setting up implementing committee and its rules and
procedures
- Setting up secretariat for implementation
- Establish recognition/assessment mechanism
- Compilation of related domestic rules and regulations
• Typical processes in implementation phase:
- Review of recognised institutions
- Review of applicants
- Establish work programme
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ALM Work Programme 2010-2015
• Adopted by the 21st ALM, Ha Noi, 24 May 2010
• Overall objective: to build towards the vision of
better of quality of life, productive employment,
and adequate social protection for ASEAN
peoples through enhancing workforce
competitiveness, creating a harmonious and
progressive workplace, and promotion of decent
work for all.
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Strategic Priorities
• Legal foundation: to ensure that labour rights and
conditions of work are protected in law and its
application
• Institutional capacity: to ensure that Government
bodies have the capacities to oversee enforcement
labour laws and regulations
• Social Partners: Informed social dialogue to take place
among labour sector partners at the national and
regional levels
• Labour market and workforce development: labour
marker to generate decent employment opportunities
and the workforce development system to contribute
to the creation of a competitive workforce
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Strategic priority on Legal markets and
workforce development
Thematic areas:
(i) Addresing the employment impacts of
trade liberalisation and recovery from
global economic crisis
(ii) Promoting progressive labour practices
(iii) Enhancing labour mobility
(iv) Enhancing labour market monitoring
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Challenges
•
•
•
•
Gaps among AMS
Regional vs. National interest
Cross-cutting nature
Resource mobilisation
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Thank you
Xin cảm ơn
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