More and better jobs in South Asia / World Bank.

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Overview. South Asia's track record -- Determinants of job quality and the employment challenge -- Improving an inconducive business environment -- Improving workers' skills -- Reforming labor market institutions -- Creating jobs in conflict-affected areas -- Annex 1A: Summary statistics on South Asian countries -- Annex 1B: Definition of key labor market terms -- Annex 1C: What is a "better" job, and which jobs are "better"? -- 2. Growth and job quality in South Asia. Economic growth in South Asia -- Sources of future growth -- The track record on employment -- The urgency of reform -- Annex 2A: Methodology for decomposing growth -- Annex 2B: Sources of average annual growth in output per worker -- Annex 2C: Shares of agriculture, industry, and services in employment and GDP -- Annex 2D: Methodology and data sources for labor force projections -- Annex 2E: Poverty rates and the number of working poor in South Asia -- Annex 2F: Analysis of poverty and unemployment in India -- 3. A profile of South Asia at work. Overview of employment and labor force participation in South Asia -- The nature of employment -- Where are the better jobs? -- Who holds better jobs? -- Annex 3A: Definitions and criteria used in profile of South Asia at work -- Annex 3B: Regional employment patterns -- 4. What is preventing firms from creating more and better jobs? Methodological framework -- Constraints in the urban formal sector -- Constraints in the rural nonfarm and informal sectors -- Demand-side policy options -- Constraints facing potential firm entrants: Business entry regulations -- Annex 4A: Business environment constraints in high- and low-income states in India -- Annex 4B: Tax rates as a constraint to firms -- Annex 4C: Constraints facing nonbenchmark firms -- Annex 4D: Access to finance as a constraint to firms -- Annex 4E: Policy options for increasing access to finance -- 5. Opening the door to better jobs by improving education and skills. Education and skills in South Asian labor markets -- Education and access to better jobs -- The education challenge -- The next 20 years: Can South Asian countries improve the educational attainment of their labor forces? -- Addressing disadvantages before school: The role of early childhood development -- Primary and secondary education -- Tertiary education and preemployment training systems -- On-the-job training -- Annex 5A: Additional tables and figures on education and skills -- Annex 5B: Projections of the educational attainment of South Asia's population and labor force -- 6. The role of labor market regulations, institutions, and programs. Labor market institutions, policies, and programs in the formal sector -- Labor market institutions, policies, and programs in the informal sector -- Annex 6A: Additional tables and figures on labor market regulations and institutions -- 7. Creating jobs in conflict-affected areas. Characteristics and intensity of armed conflict in South Asia -- Constraints to job creation in conflict-affected areas -- Armed conflict and labor markets -- Facilitating private sector job creation -- Education service delivery in conflict situations -- Labor market policies and programs -- A jobs transition path in conflict zones -- Annex 7A: Definitions of high-conflict and low-conflict regions in selected South Asian countries -- Annex 7B: Labor market characteristics and educational attainment in high-conflict and low-conflict areas of selected South Asian countries.

South Asia has created nearly 800,000 jobs per month during the last decade. Robust economic growth in large parts of the region has created better jobs -- those that pay higher wages for wage workers and reduce poverty for the self-employed, the largest segment of the region's employed. Going forward, South Asia faces the enormous challenge of absorbing 1 to 1.2 million entrants to the labor force every month for the next two decades at rising levels of productivity. This calls for an agenda that cuts across sectors and includes improving the reliability of electricity supply for firms in bot.