Precarious Work in Asia: Data Issues and Challenges Joseph R. Bongiovi University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill Seoul, Korea July 20, 2011

Goals of the Workshop Share information about precarious work in the various countries; Develop a common framework for studying precarious work; Identify key issues for comparative analysis; Develop a strategy for moving forward; Set date for next conference, at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Regional Socio- political context ChinaCultural Rev Post Mao reforms Liberal Econ Reform SOE Reform/ HK 2d Econ IndiaParliamentary DemocracyLiberal Economic Reforms IndonesiaSuharto Dictatorship Asian Econ Crisis / Dem Opening JapanLiberal Democratic RegimeEconomic Crisis 3d Econ KoreaMilitary Dictatorship Dem Opening Asian Econ Crisis 11 th Econ PhilippinesMarcos Dictatorship Dem Opening Asian Econ Crisis Sri LankaEthnic Conflictt Civil War End C.W. TaiwanKMT Dictatorship Dem Open Asian Econ Crisis ThailandMilitary backed Monarchy Asian Econ Crisis Coup Elections VietnamWarUnification Economic Reforms Asian Econ Crisis

Labor Force Data in this Presentation Data sources used – World Bank – ILO KILM Benefits – Good overview data – Comparative – Allows for analysis of different factors together Shortcomings – Missing data – Missing countries – Not current

Measures of Precarious Work Data sources provide some measures of precarious work, such as: – Vulnerable employment (own account worker and contributing family member) – Part time employment But lack others, such as: – Temporary employment (available from Statistics Japan, Korea and other country level sources) – Employment in the informal sector (some country level statistics are available)

ILO Conceptual Employment Measures Own AccountEmployer Contributing Family (Wage/Sal) Employees Coop Worker Members Casual | Perms Members Informal | Formal Informal | Formal Informal | Formal Informal | Formal Informal | Formal Formal Enterprises n/a O n/a O X n/a X O n/a O Informal Enterprises X n/a X n/a X n/a X O X n/a Households X n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a X O n/a n/a

Research Questions What does “precarious work” mean in the different countries? What statistics on PW are available? What are the estimates of the extent/trends in PW? Who is doing research on PW in country? Case illustrating the nature of PW in country? What strategies might reduce PW in country? Other important information about PW in country?

Discussion and Next Steps I will now turn this over to Arne and we will transition to our business meeting THANK YOU!