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2. Uyghurs for sale: 'Re-education', forced labour and surveillance beyond Xinjiang
- Author:
- Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, Danielle Cave, James Leibold, Kelsey Munro, and Nathan Ruser
- Publication Date:
- 03-2020
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Australian Strategic Policy Institute
- Abstract:
- The Chinese government has facilitated the mass transfer of Uyghur and other ethnic minority1 citizens from the far west region of Xinjiang to factories across the country. Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uyghurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 82 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen. This report estimates that more than 80,000 Uyghurs were transferred out of Xinjiang to work in factories across China between 2017 and 2019, and some of them were sent directly from detention camps.2 The estimated figure is conservative and the actual figure is likely to be far higher. In factories far away from home, they typically live in segregated dormitories,3 undergo organised Mandarin and ideological training outside working hours,4 are subject to constant surveillance, and are forbidden from participating in religious observances.5 Numerous sources, including government documents, show that transferred workers are assigned minders and have limited freedom of movement.6 China has attracted international condemnation for its network of extrajudicial ‘re-education camps’ in Xinjiang.7 This report exposes a new phase in China’s social re-engineering campaign targeting minority citizens, revealing new evidence that some factories across China are using forced Uyghur labour under a state-sponsored labour transfer scheme that is tainting the global supply chain.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Science and Technology, Labor Issues, Minorities, Business, and Uyghurs
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, and Australia
3. An Aging Population in Asia Creates Economic Challenges
- Author:
- Andew Mason, Sang-Hyop Lee, and Donghyun Park
- Publication Date:
- 05-2020
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- Elderly populations in Asia are expanding more quickly than other age groups. This shift in population age structure had two major impacts: demand for income support for the elderly will rise because their labor income tends to be extremely low; and gross domestic product (GDP) and other aggregate economic indicators will grow more slowly as growth in the effective labor force declines. In countries where government programs play an important role in old-age support, tax rates will have to rise or benefits will have to be curtailed or both—all options with significant political costs.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Labor Issues, Population, GDP, and Economy
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Asia-Pacific
4. Labour Market Impacts of Import Penetration from China and Regional Trade Agreement Partners: The Case of Japan
- Author:
- Kazunobu Hayakawa, Tadashi Ito, and Shujiro Urata
- Publication Date:
- 04-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
- Abstract:
- The impacts of imports on the domestic labour market have been hotly debated recently. The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the effects of not only imports from China but also those under regional trade agreements (RTAs) on employment in Japan. As in previous studies in the literature, we found that the rise in import penetration from China significantly decreases employment in Japan. However, import penetration under RTA regimes is found to have insignificant effects on employment. The finding suggests that the increase in imports under RTA regimes might not be harmful to the domestic labour market. In addition, we did not find significant effects of import penetration via input–output linkages. This insignificant result may be because imports by Japanese manufacturing firms are mostly conducted in the form of intra-firm trade, enabling them to avoid negative impacts on employment.
- Topic:
- International Trade and Finance, Regional Cooperation, Labor Issues, Employment, and Manufacturing
- Political Geography:
- Japan, China, and Asia
5. Analysis of Global Value Chain Participation and the Labour Market in Thailand: A Micro-level Analysis
- Author:
- Upalat Korwatanasakul and Youngmin Baek
- Publication Date:
- 05-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
- Abstract:
- This study assesses the links between global value chain (GVC) participation and the labour market to examine the relatively unexplored employment-related distribution effects of GVC integration. Based on the Mincer wage model, we examine the relationship between GVC participation and worker productivity and wages at the individual level. Our main estimation method is a simple ordinary least squares estimation using pooled cross-sectional data from the Thai Labour Force Survey for the period 1995–2011. We also separately examine the effects of forward and backward GVC participation on wages and wage distributions. Our results show that GVC participation induces higher monthly wages for individuals and increases productivity in the labour market through either the forward linkage or backward linkage. We even find that GVC participation can help mitigate inequality. Our findings show that GVC participation promotes inclusive job creation and provides more job opportunities for rural, female, and low-skilled workers. Policies to support leveraging the existing strong industries through upgrading, smoothing labour movements while improving agricultural productivity, and preparing to move towards a services economy can help prepare Thailand, and other developing countries in general, to upgrade to higher value chains. Although GVC participation may be a catalyst for higher wages, greater labour productivity, and more inclusive job creation, its employment effects are complicated. An unbalanced policy framework might contribute to uneven income distributions and exclusive job creation as participating in GVCs through different linkages can benefit different stakeholders in varying ways. Therefore, a policy framework that balances the benefits among stakeholders in terms of wage distributions and job inclusion is ideal.
- Topic:
- Labor Issues, Work Culture, Global Value Chains, and Labor Market
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Thailand
6. Technological Advancement, Import Penetration, and Labour Markets: Evidence from Thai Manufacturing
- Author:
- Đoàn Thi Thanh Ha
- Publication Date:
- 08-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
- Abstract:
- This paper examines the impacts of advanced technology on a possible change in workers’ skills, wages, and employment due to such technological advancement. Three proxies of advanced technologies are used in the study: (i) information and communications technology, (ii) intensity of robot use, and (iii) value of e-commerce. Our study compares the effects of technological advancements on labour market outcomes with import penetration, delineating into raw materials, capital goods, and final products. Our results show that in Thailand, the impact of advanced technology in pushing workers out of the job market is limited. Instead, it tends to affect reallocation of workers between skilled and unskilled positions. The results vary amongst proxies of technology and sectors. It seems that workers in comparatively capital-intensive industries, including automotive, plastics and chemicals, and electronics and machinery, are the most affected by advanced technology. Dampened wage/income is found only in some proxies of technology and sectors. Our results show less concern of negative impacts induced by imports, particularly imports of capital goods and raw materials, on employment status and income than technological advancement.
- Topic:
- Science and Technology, Labor Issues, Employment, Manufacturing, Job Creation, and Labor Rights
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Thailand
7. The Value-Added Tax Reform and Labour Market Outcomes: Firm Level Evidence from China
- Author:
- Yuxiang Yang and Hongyong Zhang
- Publication Date:
- 08-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
- Abstract:
- The tax incentives designed to stimulate firm investment may have a large impact on labour market outcomes. Using a comprehensive data set containing more than 1 million Chinese manufacturing firms during the period 2000–2013 with a difference-in-difference approach, we examine the impact of the value-added tax reform in 2004–2008 on the firm-level labour market outcomes. We find that firms in eligible industries and regions (treated firms) enjoying lower costs of purchasing fixed assets under the reform tended to increase capital investment and reduce employment relative to firms that did not have tax incentives (the control firms). Compared with the control firms, the treated firms became more capital intensive and had an increase in average wage but a decline in labour income share. We also provide evidence that the substitutions of labour input by capital input is associated with increases in firm productivity and the share of skilled workers, but not imported capital goods.
- Topic:
- Labor Issues, Reform, Tax Systems, and Labor Market
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
8. Does Change in Intellectual Property Rights Induce Demand for Skilled Workers? Evidence from India
- Author:
- Pavel Chakraborthy and Prachi Gupta
- Publication Date:
- 11-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
- Abstract:
- Do incentives to innovate create demand for skilled workers more than proportionately? We study the question using the implementation of the Patent (Amendment) Act in India in 2002 to comply with the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights agreement. We find, first, stronger intellectual property protection has a sharper impact on demand for skilled workers for high patentable industries. Demand for skilled workers increased by 0.5%–2.9% for industries that are more patentable. The average compensation for skilled workers went up by 10% in high patentable industries but decreased for unskilled workers by about 2%. Second, the increase in wage inequality can partly be attributed to the increase in wages rather than incentives. Third, the increase in demand for skilled workers is due to both the increase in intensive margin (or price) and extensive margin (number). Fourth, the aggregate effect is completely driven by industries producing intermediate goods and big plants. Finally, the reforms led to a significant reallocation of resources between industries. The high patentable industries invested more in technology adoption, started to produce more product varieties at higher quality, and filed for more product patent claims. Broadly, we demonstrate that stronger intellectual property protection leads to higher wage inequality between industries.
- Topic:
- Science and Technology, Labor Issues, Intellectual Property/Copyright, and Skilled Labor
- Political Geography:
- India and Asia
9. Intended and Unintended Consequences of a New Limit on Working Hours in South Korea: Implications for Precarious Employment
- Author:
- Sungchul Park and Hansoo Ko
- Publication Date:
- 06-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
- Abstract:
- Effective as of July 1, 2018, South Korea set a new cap on employees’ weekly working hours, decreasing the maximum number from 68 to 52. In this study, we comprehensively analyze the effectiveness of the law’s implementation by observing changes in work time, health status, health care utilization, health behavior, monthly expenses, and satisfaction between pre- and post-implementation periods (2014–2017 vs. 2019). We find evidence of both intended and unintended consequences—and, in this last category, some are beneficial and some not. As intended, employees eligible for the 52-hour work week saw their average working hours decrease, while their monthly spending on leisure increased substantially. A beneficial unintended consequence was that work time also decreased in firms with less than 300 employees that had not yet implemented the 52-hour work schedule (they have done so since, in January 2020). Among adverse unintended consequences, the most notable were heterogeneous effects across employment types (full-time vs. precarious employment) and, in particular, negative impacts on precarious employees (that is, those facing relatively high levels of job insecurity). Despite almost no change in their work time, precarious employees saw substantial increases in outpatient visits and monthly expenses for health care, indicating suggestive evidence of adverse health consequences. Another adverse unintended consequence was that overall job satisfaction decreased among several groups of employees. This may reflect a heavy workload among employees still expected to work overtime, especially experienced employees or those working in large firms. While employment rates increased after the new schedule’s implementation, the majority were in precarious jobs. This has negative implications because of the adverse health impacts of being in precarious employment; also, the workload of experienced employees in this field might have intensified amid all the new hiring. Our findings suggest key policy recommendations for how to leverage the benefits of the 52-hour cap on weekly working hours while addressing its negative unintended consequences.
- Topic:
- Health, Labor Issues, Employment, and Labor Policies
- Political Geography:
- Asia and South Korea
10. Economic Confidence Building Measures – Civil Servant Salaries
- Author:
- Mansour Ali Al Bashiri
- Publication Date:
- 03-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Sana'a Center For Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- In December 2018, 23 of Yemen’s leading socioeconomic experts convened in Amman during the Fourth Development Champions Forum to discuss economic confidence-building measures in the peace process in Yemen. The discussions at the Forum, which is part of the Rethinking Yemen’s Economy initiative, touched on a number of economic mechanisms that could be implemented to build confidence. These included supporting the Central Bank as an independent institution that serves all of Yemen; ensuring the deposit of public revenues in all governorates at the Central Bank headquarters in Aden; and opening ports and ensuring the free movement of goods, humanitarian aid and people between governorates. The Forum focused on the payment of salaries and pensions to all civil servants due to the critical importance of the issue; this policy brief presents the outcomes of this discussion. As a key step to simultaneously address the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and build confidence between the parties engaged in the peace process, the Development Champions recommend that the Yemeni government resumes salary payments to all civil servants working in the administrative apparatus of the state registered in the Ministry of Civil Service database of 2014 across Yemen, prioritizing payments to education and health workers. The Yemeni government should also continue to provide liquidity to guarantee the payment of pensions to all public sector retirees. Meanwhile, Ansar Allah should allow all state revenues in areas under their control to be deposited into the accounts specified by the Central Bank of Yemen temporarily headquartered in Aden, and all parties should work toward the restoration of the Central Bank as a national institution that serves all of Yemen. The Development Champions call on regional and international donors to cover any funding gap to support the payment of salaries and pensions.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Economics, Labor Issues, Income Inequality, and Economic Development
- Political Geography:
- Asia, Yemen, and West Asia
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