The labour market
ASEAN Member States differ markedly in terms
of labour supply, skills, wages, and productivity
(Table 1-4). The labour force varies widely from
186,000 in Brunei Darussalam to 118.2 million
in Indonesia. With respect to skills, most countries
have high literacy rates among the working-age
population. However, enrolment in technical
and vocational education and training (TVET)
programmes remains inadequate while increasing
the relevance of higher education is a challenge in
many countries.
Productivity (the value added per worker)
varies greatly and correlates with the skills of the
workforce (see Chapters 4 and 5). Annual output
per worker in Thailand, for example, is nearly four
times the level in Cambodia. Disparities are also
marked when it comes to wages. For instance, a
worker in Malaysia earns, on average, more than
three times the monthly salary of an Indonesian
worker. These differences partly explain patterns of
regional labour migration (see Chapter 6).
The region’s labour market also has pronounced
gender disparities. Between 2010 and 2013 labour
force participation rates remained steady at slightly
more than 70 per cent (Annex F, Table F1-2).
However, the rate for women was around 59 per
cent, while that for men was about 82 per cent.17 In Malaysia and Indonesia, the gender gap exceeds 30
percentage points. Gender gap in wages is also stark.
On average, women in Cambodia and Singapore,
for instance, earn about one-quarter less than men
(Annex F, Table F1-8). Moreover, as indicated in
the next section, women in ASEAN are also at a
disadvantage in securing decent employment.