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	ILO advocates labour reform to tackle poverty by International Labour Organization   23 January 2008   New Delhi: South Asia could end poverty in a generation, but only if economic development is accompanied by inclusive labour market policies, according to a new report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).   The ILO''s 2008 Global Employment Trends (GET) report notes that recent economic growth has led to "impressive" poverty reduction in South Asia.   Extreme working poverty “an income of less than US $1 per day” fell by 20 percentage points in a decade (from 53% in 1997 to 33% in 2007, the greatest decrease of any region of the world.   However, the proportion of working poor “an income of less than US $2 per day” remains high, with eight out of 10 workers, 478 million people, in this category. Only sub-Saharan Africa has a higher proportion.   The persistence of working poverty is mainly the result of continuing low productivity levels, the report says, with resulting wages too low to lift workers out of poverty.   While there has been a fall in working poverty, the share of people in vulnerable employment (non formal work such as unpaid family work or own-account work) remains the highest in the world, with seven out of 10 workers in this group.   Many of these workers have little or no social protection against economic downturns, and no formal insurance to protect them in times of personal or family crisis.   South Asia''s countries are different from other parts of Asia in that they remain strongly dependent on agriculture. While there has been a rapid decrease in agricultural employment since 1997 - the fastest decline in the world - agriculture still employs almost half of all workers in the region.   The region''s industrial sector has seen the largest increase in jobs, from 15.3% of total employment in 1997 to 21.7% in 2007. In the same period the services sector grew from 25.2% to 30.3%, less than in many other regions of the world.   Women continue to represent untapped potential, with very low labour force participation rates; in 2007 of every 100 women of working age, only 35 were actually working. The gender gap in education also remains large and threatens to constrain women''s participation in the workforce even more in future.   What makes the situation of women even worse is that those who do enter the workforce are also more likely to be unemployed * the female unemployment rate was 5.8% in 2007, compared to 4.8% for men.   Looking forward, the report warns that the region must prepare itself "for an economic situation less favourable than today''s" by putting in place social protection mechanisms to ensure people do not fall back into poverty.   South Asia "still has an enormous deficit in decent work" the authors say. The challenge is not so much the creation of jobs but the creation of decent jobs which ensure people are neither in poverty, nor vulnerable to it.   This requires more inclusive, formal labour markets and more investment in education and other forms of human capital. But, it concludes, "Given the strong economic growth, the region now has the potential to put forward the necessary reforms and investments in human capital" to reduce poverty and support continued economic development. Visit the related web page
	The Arithmetic of Poverty by Praful Patel Vice President, South Asia Region - The World Bank India   Jan 2008   A few months after taking over my new position as the World Bank’s Vice President for the South Asia region, I spent a few days and nights with Bhavnaben and her young family of salt workers on the edge of the desert in the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. Since that time, Bhavnaben has been my touchstone of progress in India’s booming economy, and I return every year to visit them. I go to see first hand the life of India’s poorest citizens, to learn about their hopes and dreams, and to trace the small changes in their lives amidst India’s rising prosperity.   In the four years that I’ve known the family, they have made many efforts to improve their circumstances. When I first met them in 2003, they farmed just one salt pan, barely enough to sustain their family of seven - two sons and three daughters. By the time I returned a year later, they had taken on another pan. They were now producing twice the quantity of salt, and that too of better quality. They should be much better off now, I thought.   But escaping the clutches of poverty is never easy. Little did I realize how vulnerable the poor are to exploitation from those who wield power over them. Now that the family farmed two pans, the water vendor who supplied drinking water while they camped in the desert had doubled his charges! As the sole seller of a vital commodity -albeit of dubious quality - he charged whatever he pleased. In this case, he based his charges on the number of salt pans they owned instead of the amount of drinking water they bought! Frustrated that others were benefiting from his hard labor, Mangabhai, Bhavanben’s husband, said he didn’t see any incentive to expand his salt business further.   The cost of diesel - their major expense - had also gone up, while the price of salt had remained the same. In Ahmedabad, the state’s major city, I had heard talk about introducing solar or wind power on the salt flats since both have good potential in the desert. But, I saw no evidence of anything being installed so far.   One encouraging sign was that the family had begun to diversify their sources of income to reduce their dependence on their backbreaking ancestral occupation. They had set up a small shop selling basic supplies to others on the pans. The shop - looked after by the oldest son - also sold flour which they now ground themselves using a new machine. In addition, they had begun to produce industrial salt which fetched a much higher price than the consumption salt they produced earlier. And, the older children – none of whom went to school when I first met them – were now in school. They had learnt to read the vernacular alphabet and rattled off the names of plants and animals pinned up along the walls of the makeshift tent that served as their classroom. Things were looking up, I thought.   On my third and most recent visit in October 2007, the family had made further efforts to improve their livelihood. They had leased a small piece of farm land from a relative for five years. On this, they had grown their staple food of millet and lentils. This was a wise move as it would reduce their expenses on food and ensure that the family’s granary was full for the coming year. But Bhavnaben seemed worried; unless the family could increase their income, she might be forced to get her eldest daughter, fourteen year old Chandrika, married off. The incentive would be the dowry they would receive from the groom’s family (the Agaria tribe follow a system of reverse dowry).   My most recent visit to the family reminded me of the many pitfalls in the climb out of poverty. Chandrika had been pulled out of school to look after the household so that Bhavnaben could spend more time at work alongside her husband. The eldest son’s schooling had also been cut short; he was needed to man the shop. Although the three younger children were still in school, how much they were actually learning was another question. I strongly suspected that Kumar, the second son, was being taken out to work on the salt pans.   All parents dream of giving their children a better future. But poor families’ inability to cope without their children’s labor invariably compromises the one thing that can make a real difference - education. The question continues to nag me: Will Bhavnaben’s children ever be able to avail of the new opportunities provided by India’s booming economy?   Health services also remain a huge problem, causing many poor people to slip back into poverty despite their best efforts. An illness means the loss of precious work days, and a consequent set-back in income.   Medical care is not easy to come by, local doctors are not particularly qualified, and it is both expensive and time-consuming to go to the bigger towns for attention. Bhavnaben had been unable to access any decent medical services for her son, Kumar, who had apparently been suffering from a series of illnesses for the past several years.   What, then, can their future hold? When I tried to talk to Mangabhai about his financial planning for the time he can no longer work, he looked at me with glazed eyes. He had absolutely no idea. “The poor don’t have the luxury of looking into the future,” Bhavnaben said to me.   Standing next to Bhavnaben I feel small - her ability to cope under extreme conditions is remarkable. There is also an enormous dignity, both within the family and the community. They display great respect for each other and share what little they have with a disarming openness. Yet, they are subjected to a lot of indignity, mostly by outsiders who look down upon them and treat them as fodder for exploitation.   All in all, I came away feeling that although things were looking better, life was still very tough for Bhavnaben and her family, and progress on the ground was painfully slow.   Yet, I am optimistic, led, if nothing else, by the family''s own tremendous resilience and willingness to improve its condition bit by bit. But this process must be helped and speeded up if growth with inclusion is to be the goal of India''s remarkable advancement.   What will it take to provide new and more lucrative employment opportunities, the right kind of service delivery in health, education, and infrastructure, better access to markets and finance, and the right kind of safety nets for families like Bhavnaben’s to escape deprivation and poverty?   Given the right kind of support in terms of health, education, and training for a life outside the grueling salt pans, families like Bhavnaben’s can indeed escape the only life they have ever known - a life of constant deprivation and untold poverty.
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