Promoting productive employment, gender equality and health in the workforce - Resident Coordinator's Remarks as Moderator, Gita Sabharwal

High-level panel, “Advancing sustainable, inclusive, science and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals for leaving no-one behind in Asia and the Pacific   ̶ Promoting productive employment, gender equality and health in the workforce.”

Greetings:

Thank you, Chair.

Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates 

It’s an honor to moderate this high-level session bringing together top political leaders and policy makers to discuss accelerating productive employment. 

We are privileged to have you all with us today to share your insights and I am very much looking forward to them.

Strengthening productive employment involves decent work creation, increased social protection, human capital development and women’s inclusion in the workforce.

These are key pillars of the SDGs and robust interventions are needed to move the needle on them through partnerships between governments, the private sector and the UN. 

Asia and the Pacific has achieved robust progress on SDG 3, health and wellbeing, but less so on SDG 8, decent work.

Accelerating progress on worker’s rights, skillsets, opportunities and wellbeing is critical in a region that is the world’s most dynamic contributing to 60% of global growth, half of global trade with a 2 billion-strong workforce. 

Two-thirds of these workers are in the informal economy with low wages, little social protection and limited access to health safety and security.  

A large proportion of them are women locked into low-productivity sectors with limited pathways for moving up the skills spectrum and accessing vital sources of credit.

In Asia and the Pacific, labor markets are also changing rapidly with nearly nine in ten private organisations adopting transformative technological tools such as AI. 

STEM is central to new skillsets required for these markets. We need more men and women, especially women, in STEM fields to bridge skills gaps to facilitate the green transformation across the region. 

Sustainability is similarly going to be central to productive employment and growth across the board. 

Delivering a Just Transition report led by ESCAP, ADB and UNDP, which will be launched later this evening, shows that the green and blue transition could generate an additional nine percent of new and decent jobs by mid-century with renewable energy leading the way.

The labor force will also need to be well positioned to respond to opportunities from rapid urban development, given that every other person is currently living in cities – a number that will grow exponentially over the coming years. 

Leveraging urbanization can unlock millions of green jobs in sectors such as sustainable transportation, low carbon infrastructure and services.

The challenges we face are universal across the region, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

At this panel we are privileged to hear from top policy makers on how their governments are putting in place policies and solutions to create new jobs, boost social protection and develop human capital through reskilling and upskilling. 

By sharing best practices from their country experiences, will bolster the evidence base for improved policy interventions on productive employment across Asia and the Pacific.

Indonesia: H.E. Mr. Febrian Alphyanto Ruddyard, Vice Minister, National Development Planning (Bappenas), will highlight how Indonesia is scaling up social protection, skills development to match market demand and productive employment in support of the President’s vision of 8% growth.

Federated States of Micronesia: H.E. Mr. Florian J. Yatilman, Assistant Secretary, Department of Resources and Development, will present skills development strategies for a sustainable economy in the context of Small Island Developing States, which are vulnerable to the impacts of the climate change.

Lao People's Democratic Republic: – H.E. Ms. Soukphaphone Phanit, Permanent Secretary of the Lao Women's Union & ACWC Representative for Women's Rights will speak to challenges in decent work creation for a labor force where women’s participation rate is at 56%. 

Higher Order Interventions 

Following this panel, let me now invite perspectives from ADB, UNDP and Trade Union to provide big-picture reflections on advancing workforce productivity.

Ms. Fatima Yasmin, Vice-President, Asian Development Bank, will outline transformational investments needed to drive just transition. .

Ms. Kanni Wignaraja, Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, will set out how UNDP is brining to bear cutting-edge technical assistance in support of productive and just transition. 

Ms. Kate Lappin, Regional Secretary of Public Services International for the Asia & Pacific region will discuss how workers’ voices and rights need to be heard and upheld as economies transform.

Thank you all for your important insights.

Let me revert to each of our panel members to share in 2 minutes how we could leverage South-South Cooperation to scale up best practices for productive employment across Asia Pacific.

Your Excellencies and distinguished delegates, let me thank you for your invaluable insights and policy recommendations for advancing inclusive and productive employment with skills building and social protection. 

These are the back bone of efforts to drive sustainable growth across Asia and the Pacific in support of SDG 8.

I would also like to thank all the panelists and participants for your active engagement and commitment to achieving our shared vision of more inclusive and sustainable economies across the region.

Thank you.