Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a new data set of comparable employment indicators for South Asian countries, constructed from more than 60 primary data sources from 2001 to 2017.Design/methodology/approachThe main contribution of the paper is to curate the information provided by individual respondents to censuses and surveys, in a way that is consistent across countries and over time. The usefulness of the data set is illustrated by conducting a rigorous assessment of employment characteristics, of changes in employment over time and of the short- and long-run relationships between economic growth and employment growth in South Asia.FindingsThe exercise shows that agriculture still employs the majority of the working-age population across the region and, except in Sri Lanka, more than half of the employment is self-employment or unpaid family work. The paper also shows that employment rates are generally decreasing in South Asia, and that in some countries female employment rates are falling rapidly. Seasonal growth patterns are shown to affect the composition of employment, while non-seasonal changes in short-run growth affect the overall level of employment. The paper estimates that, in the long run, one percentage point growth of gross domestic product has led on average to a 0.34 per cent increase in employment.Originality/valueThis paper provides a new employment data set for South Asia, a rigorous assessment of employment trends and changes and an analysis for relationship between economic growth and employment (both quarterly and long-run).
Highlights
Employment is at the center of multiple debates across South Asia
Are sufficient jobs being created to absorb the numerous young entrants to the labor force? To what extent is economic growth translating into employment growth? Is all employment growth happening in the services sector, or are manufacturing jobs growing too? How many of the jobs being created involve regular wage employment? And is the female share of employment declining with economic development?
While the dataset presented in this paper certainly has room for improvement, the figures emerging from it seem meaningful and provide valuable insights on some of the employment issues more hotly debated in South Asia these days
Summary
Employment is at the center of multiple debates across South Asia. Are sufficient jobs being created to absorb the numerous young entrants to the labor force? To what extent is economic growth translating into employment growth? Is all employment growth happening in the services sector, or are manufacturing jobs growing too? How many of the jobs being created involve regular wage employment? And is the female share of employment declining with economic development?. We assess differences between the resulting indicators and the readily-available national estimates and model-based estimates reported by the International Labour Organization (ILO) By going into this detail, we hope to reassure readers and potential users about the reliability of the dataset, while at the same time encouraging researchers to further improve it. The World Bank regularly conducts Jobs Diagnostics that discuss labor market issues in selected countries. Montenegro and Hirn (2009) constructed a harmonized dataset of a few labor market indicators using primary data from surveys – including 19 from South Asian countries – for the 2009 WDR on Reshaping Economic Geography (World Bank 2009). The dataset presented and analyzed in this paper is built in a similar spirit It was developed for the Spring 2018 edition of South Asia Economic Focus (World Bank 2018a), which explored the relationship between growth and employment in the region. The resulting database, identified in what follows as the South Asia Employment Dataset, is available upon request
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