| Summary, etc. |
The basic objectives of the study are: to assess the country-wise trends in unemployment and poverty levels in Soth Asia; to generate alternative scenarios for employment; to comparatively analyse the poverty alleviation strategies; and to suggest areas of regional cooperation to accelerate the pace of employment generation and poverty alleviation.<br/><br/>The introductory chapter briefly outlines the empirical and conceptual dimensions and approaches to employment generation and poverty allevia tion in the less developed countries like those in South Asia. It also discusses the economic and socio-political costs of high levels of unemployment, underemployment and poverty (chapter 1).<br/><br/>In view of the multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary nature of the issues involved, the study adopts a relatively limited approach based on macro economic and sectoral considerations and elasticities of employment to growth, to generate alternative employment scenarios and perspectives for the South Asian countries. Similarly, in view of the large variety of approaches and programmes to alleviate poverty, the study confines itself to a comparative analysis of the relatively more, or less, successful programmes and organisations, with a view to elicit their strengths and weaknesses (chapter II).<br/><br/>While reviewing the trends in unemployment in the region, the study finds that the additional employment generated during the last two decades or so in the region has not been sufficient to eliminate the unemployment backlog and to fully absorb the additions to the labour force. This broad generalisation is, however, qualified by observations on differences in unemployment and under-employment between countries, sub-regions, and sub-groups. Simi larly, while poverty levels in most countries have been declining, the study finds that the number of poor may not have declined in the region as a whole, suggesting that the rate of poverty alleviation has not kept pace with that of the growth of population in general and of the poor population in particular. This generalisation is again qualified by relevant sub-regional and sub-group differences (chapter III).<br/><br/>On the basis of alternative assumptions about the macro-economic and sectoral employment to growth elasticities, the required macro-economic and sectoral growth rates are estimated for India in a frame-work of "growth-led employment. The analysis indicates that the growth rates required to elimi nate the unemployment backlog and to absorb the additions to the labour forcs are, as a general rule, too high to be achievable, if the sectoral composition of the GDP remains unchanged and if the past trends in the elasticities continue. The prospects for generating growth-led employment in a more liberalised domestic and economic environment in the South Asian region are also discussed in the context of experiences in other less developed countries (chapter IV).<br/><br/>Next, the linkages between unemployment, underemployment and poverty measures are brought out. This discussion suggests that the prospects of reorienting macro-economic and developmental policies to internalise em ployment generation and poverty alleviation in the development processes in a self-sustaining manner fo not appear to be very promising. Hence, the need for supplementary approaches and programmes is unavoidable in the short and medium if not the long runs. The comparative analysis of the more and less successful programmes brings out the need for more participatory, localised, target group-specific approaches, which emphasise self-development of the poor through skill and asset generation (chapter V).<br/><br/>On the basis of these discussions and analyses, it is suggested that the South Asian countries may benefit from regional cooperation in selected areas. These include the harmonisation of development policies and plans to promote higher economic growth in general and higher levels of intra-regional and inter-regional trade in labour absorbing goods and services in particular. Further, approaches to restructuring aggregate demand in favour of more employment-led-growth, focusing on joint development of infrastructure and labour-absorbing sub-sectors, could be collectively evolved. These would need to be integrated with appropriate technological, organisational, pricing and investment allocation strategies on a regional basis. For such collective approaches, SAPTA, the Poverty Commission's Report, and other regional proposals adopted at the SAARC Summit in Dhaka in April, 1993 could be the building blocks. A regional netwrok of public and private institutions dealing with the unemployed and the poor could be another useful area of cooperation. A regional technology development, transfer and coordinating mechanism could also be considered in this context. These potential areas of cooperation would need to be integrated with the work of official technical committees and other fora under the SAARC's umbrella, as well as with the activities of the non governmental organisations in the region. |
