Good Policy Requires Good Numbers

The global financial crisis has progressively become a global jobs crisis. ASEAN economies have been relatively strong performers through the crisis, but their jobs markets have not been spared. Unemployment and the number of working poor seem to have risen sharply.

Yet most ASEAN policymakers cannot accurately gauge the extent of the jobs crisis in their countries. They lack the necessary, reliable, timely, and consistent labor statistics.

A workshop on Labor Market Information and Analysis in Brunei Darussalam on 2–4 March, organized by ADBI, the ASEAN Secretariat, and the International Labor Organization, initiated dialogue among policymakers on main economic indicators, decent work, labor market analysis, and trade, migration and labor markets. Participants agreed to take this work forward through a specific program in order to realize the ASEAN Socio- Cultural Blueprint's goal to “enhance capacity of governments to monitor labor markets and human resource indicators, and design social impact policies.”

Read a more detailed summary of this event.