SOUTH ASIA
INFORMALITY IN SOUTH ASIA Increasing Productivity and Job Quality in the Informal Sector By the World Bank
In South Asia, most workers and firms are in the informal sector. Informal firms constitute almost 99 percent of all firms, but account for a much smaller share of total output and employment. These firms remain stunted due to limited access to capital and other resources, and lack the means or the incentive to invest in upgrading their technological and managerial capabilities. The share of total employment outside of the formal sector reaches higher than 80 percent in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Informal workers lack access to high-quality, productive jobs; they are also vulnerable to shocks because they are not covered by the social protection and labor-market regulations that exist in the formal sector.
SOUTH ASIA DEVELOPMENT FORUM
Policy makers in South Asia need better evidence to design policies addressing the persistent developmental challenges of low productivity, high vulnerability, and weak taxation that are posed by the vast informal sector. As the informal sector has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing these issues will also be critical for COVID relief and recovery.
April 2022. 150 pages. Stock no. C211834 (ISBN: 978-1-4648-1834-9). US$43.95
FROM JOBS TO CAREERS Apparel Exports and Career Paths for Women in Developing Countries By Stacey Frederick, Gladys Lopez-Acevedo, Raymond Robertson, and Mexico A. Vergara Bahena
An oft-cited strategy to advance economic development is to further integrate developing countries into global trade, particularly through global value chains, bolstered by the expansion of female-intensive industries to bring more women into the formal labor force.
SOUTH ASIA DEVELOPMENT FORUM December 2021. 178 pages. Stock no. C211803 (ISBN: 978-1-4648-1803-5). US$43.95
In recent decades, the apparel industry has shifted production to low-wage developing countries, increasing the demand for women, closing male-female wage gaps, and bringing women into the formal labor force from agriculture and informal work. But is an apparel-led export strategy sufficient to induce a broader transition from jobs women do to survive to careers promising stable employment and a sense of identity? From Jobs to Careers answers this question by focusing on seven countries where apparel plays a vital role in their export baskets: Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Arab Republic of Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Vietnam. It finds that the apparel industry indeed can serve as a launching pad to bring more women into the labor market. For this approach to work, however, complementary policies must tackle the barriers that hinder women's pursuit of long-term workforce participation and better-paid occupations. Key policy recommendations include increasing the participation of female production workers in export-oriented apparel manufacturing and associated industries, upgrading within manufacturing-related industries, boosting access to education, and breaking glass ceilings.
The report also seeks to shift the paradigm of how we think of women in the labor force by stressing the importance of their transition from jobs to careers—the so-called “quiet revolution.” 26
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