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Welcome to ICAEW’s Economic Insight: South East Asia, a quarterly forecast for the region prepared specifically for the finance profession. Produced by Cebr, ICAEW’s partner and acknowledged experts in global economic forecasting, it provides a unique perspective on the prospects for South East Asia over the coming years. We focus on the largest economies of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) – namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Cheaper commodities to force ASEAN out of mining and towards more skill-intensive growth This report discusses the employment and skills situation in the ASEAN economies. It focuses first on productivity – how much output each worker produces – and then moves on to consider the number of workers, driven by demographic factors such as the size of the population and the participation rate among women. The global context of deflationary pressures and the reduced attractiveness of commodities versus other exports in early 2015 frames the discussion. Economic Insight South East Asia Quarterly briefing Q1 2015 BUSINESS WITH CONFIDENCE The recent collapse of the price of oil, currently below $50/barrel, is of critical importance to ASEAN. Several South East Asian economies had the good fortune to be sitting on large commodity resources while China’s appetite for these resources increased exponentially. Exports of hydrocarbons, along with other raw materials, surged on the Chinese construction–investment boom. But prices of oil, coal, rubber and copper have all collapsed. Mining projects are being cancelled. At first sight this is problematic but it also presents an opportunity. Malaysia’s Budget Revision speech acknowledged the problem for Malaysia, a net oil exporter, while expressing the expectation that global economic improvement would boost exports of manufactured goods. These account for 76% of total exports. Global conditions will help, but conscious development of capacity there ensures it is not left to chance. Most ASEAN governments subsidise fuel, to a greater or lesser extent. The recent oil price drop does this job for them, allowing spending to shift from cheapening consumption to driving investment. Indonesia and Malaysia are leading this change. icaew.com/economicinsight Despite its huge reserves, Indonesia is a net oil importer. The new president, Joko Widodo, cut fuel subsidies in November 2014 and raised investment in health, education and infrastructure. The policies are therefore complementary. The former is now politically far easier, and the latter more urgent as developing new competitive industries is the only way to prevent Indonesia’s persistent trade deficit from increasing. Meanwhile, Vietnam spends about $4bn on fuel subsidies – around 2% of GDP – a price tag its government can ill afford. In June 2014 the UN Development Programme urged Vietnam to phase out the policy and channel the savings into investment. Singapore’s Workplace Development Agency provides subsidised or free courses to workers. Malaysia’s Human Resources Development Fund provides assistance to employers upskilling their workers. Malaysia and Singapore changed their labour-relations strategy to pursue higher-value added industries when they were ready to move into the next phase of their development. After pursuing a cost-containment, cheap-labour strategy, they moved to emphasise ‘skills development, workplace flexibility, and productivity’.1 The Malaysian Government embarked on a transformation plan for both public and private sectors, including services as a key sector. The major effects of the commodity crash on ASEAN are therefore a reduced attractiveness of exporting raw materials, combined with a reduced cost of fuel subsidies. Oil subsidisers benefit from the expanded fiscal room, while commodity exporters will be under pressure to diversify to maintain export earnings. While China’s growth provided a ready-made, virtually limitless market for raw materials, the clear implication of its deceleration is to shift focus to higher-value exports. Improving education and infrastructure are already ASEAN governments’ priorities. The region must seize this opportunity to pursue them. Vietnam currently competes on cost. As many technology multinationals are currently investing in Vietnam in order to transfer production there, the country would benefit from maintaining low-cost production in the near future. However, like South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia before it, the natural next step will be to ascend up the value chain as wages start to rise and skills improve. In pockets, this development is visible in Vietnam. But it will take time for this to spread across larger sections of the economy. It will also rely on the development of the requisite skills such as engineering, science and programming. The government has launched initiatives to train more accountants. For this reason, education becomes an essential determinant of productivity after a certain threshold is reached. Vietnam’s higher education is patchy, though it has an advantage in strong foundation-level education. Productivity: raising the quality of labour To raise national output through the labour market, most tools at governments’ disposal fall into one of two categories. They can increase the size of the labour force, or they can raise labour’s productivity, meaning that a worker’s output per hour expands. ASEAN economies have tried both over the past. The performance on productivity has been, by any yardstick, remarkable. Figure 2: Singapore leading South East Asia on school enrolment rates and mathematical skills 100 700 90 Figure 1: On productivity, Vietnam outpaces the competition in South East Asia 600 80 500 70 Output per worker by country, 1991=100 60 400 50 300 250 40 300 30 200 20 200 100 10 150 0 Indonesia 100 Philippines Singapore Pre-primary enrolment 50 Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Thailand United States Vietnam 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 Secondary enrolment 1991 0 Malaysia Singapore Source: International Labour Organisation, Key Indicators of the Labour Market (ILO KILM) All the major ASEAN economies achieved faster productivity growth than the US between 1991 and 2012, with the exception of the Philippines. The ‘convergence’ hypothesis – a core tenet of development theory which predicts that poor countries’ productivity should catch up with rich ones – is often defied in practice. It broadly holds here, though: Vietnam, the poorest of the group, exhibited a remarkable 184% growth over this period, equivalent to 5% per year; Thailand managed 85%. Even Singapore and Malaysia, already relatively productive at the beginning of the period, achieved improvements in productivity of 81% and 80% respectively. Singapore and Malaysia invest substantial resources into productivity growth. icaew.com/economicinsight cebr.com Thailand United States Vietnam Primary enrolment Average 0 Primary survival rate PISA score, maths (2012) Source: UNICEF Global databases, OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Latest available year; some data unavailable for certain countries Singapore has one of the world’s best education systems. The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) score puts it below only Shanghai (evaluated separately to the rest of China) and Hong Kong. Education has been prioritised since independence and the Economic Development Board now intends to treat higher education as an export. It planned to attract 150,000 foreign students per year to Singaporean universities by 2015: with 75,000 coming in 2014 it is likely to fall short, although it has still increased numbers by 150% compared to a decade ago. Vietnam’s education system ranks far ahead of peers with similar income. It is in the top 20 for all three subjects (maths, reading and science) in the OECD’s PISA, ahead of most European countries and the US. As in other former communist countries, one legacy was higher literacy and numeracy rates than would be expected at a relatively low income level. ECONOMIC INSIGHT – SOUTH E A ST A SIA Q1 2 015 Labour force: increasing the quantity of labour However, for many years Vietnam failed to exploit this asset economically as its trade remained largely closed. The economy opened up in the 1980s, expanding its trading partners beyond the Comecon bloc, devaluing the dong and incorporating a limited role for the market alongside central planning. The results of this transformation on output per worker are clearly visible in Figure 1. Despite the strong performance on some indicators, Vietnam still has serious need for reform in education. Economists point to the mismatch between skills and the needs of the economy. The index of dissimilarity2 between supply of skills and demand for them is 17.0% – higher than the world average (for countries that report data), which is 15.8%. While boosting productivity is a powerful way to raise an economy’s GDP per capita, it can be fatally undermined if the proportion of the population in work falls at the same time. We turn from examination of productivity – or the quality of the labour force – to a look at its size. Governments that have a strong focus on economic growth, notably Singapore but also Malaysia, have tried policies aimed at expanding the labour force. Singapore boosts its labour force at the same time as making rapid productivity gains Vietnam’s productivity boom runs alongside rise in skilled job categories Figure 3: ratio of skilled to unskilled jobs in workforce (where 1 represents equal numbers of each), and % increase in ratio over timeframe. 76% 2.5 80% 70 2.0 60 52% 50 1.5 1.0 40 28% 26% 24% 30 17% 20 0.5 10 Indonesia Malaysia 2001 (2007 in Indonesia) Philippines Singapore latest available year Thailand Vietnam 0 % increase in ratio Source: ILO KILM Figure 3 uses employment by occupation data to calculate the share of the workforce in relatively skilled occupations (managers, professionals, technicians, clerks) compared to unskilled occupations (shopworkers, craftworkers, agricultural workers, plant workers and elementary workers). The precise distinction is manual/non-manual, to avoid difficulties categorising levels of skill. All these economies, except Singapore, have ratios below one, indicating their workforces are predominantly unskilled. This helps to fill in the link between education and productivity: the structure of the workforce changes to allow higher value-added activities. Vietnam again sees the highest increase at 76%, attesting to this pattern. This demonstrates creation of a tier of more highly skilled jobs between 2001 and 2012, as Vietnam continued its transition from an agrarian to a manufacturing-based economy. icaew.com/economicinsight cebr.com 190 170 150 130 110 Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Thailand United States Vietnam 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 90 1991 The ASEAN economies all have more pressing problems at the higher end of the educational system. Universities, which provide many of the technical skills needed to move from the assembly to production stages of the value chain, or from the production to the design stages, remain underdeveloped. 210 1990 The picture above, based on enrolment and survival rates (ie, starting and completing school), fails to capture all aspects of education. For example, Indonesia has a large rural/urban disparity, not highlighted by taking an average figure. Rural Indonesians in 2007 had 8.5 years of schooling on average, with the equivalent for their urban counterparts 10.3. Clearly, quality of education also matters as much as the enrolment rate. Indonesia used an earlier oil export boom (c.1970–1996) to build many new schools. However, it lacked sufficient qualified teachers and had to resort to hiring poorly qualified or unqualified staff, which permanently lowered the standard of instruction. Figure 4: Labour force in ASEAN economies, 1990– 2013 (ages 15–64, 1990 =100). Singapore Source: ILO KILM It is little wonder that Singapore has one of the highest per-capita incomes in the world. Since independence, as well as finding ways to successfully raise productivity, it has also managed to expand the labour force. Although part of this is population growth, much is due to more of the working-age population participating in paid employment. In order to expand their total employment, governments can either: a) raise the population through immigration; b) raise the birth rate of the indigenous population; c) raise the participation rate (the proportion of those of working age who are in employment or seeking employment); or d) move workers from informal to formal employment – while not expansion per se, this is a very important issue for some ASEAN economies. ASEAN’s population has grown at a consistent and rapid pace, which has driven the trajectory of the labour force in Figure 4. Although governments have made attempts at influencing variables c) and d), which are acknowledged as problems to different degrees in the region, they have mostly not needed to devise ways of increasing the working-age population. The exception is Singapore. Following a successful policy of reducing the birth rate until 1988, it then realised that fertility had fallen below the replacement rate. It has since worked at, and achieved goals a), b) and c). Its growth plan to 2030 relies on a policy white paper which forecasts 30% population growth, though political opposition may lead to a dilution of this target. Singapore’s policy has been generally liberal regarding immigration, recognising the benefit of allowing cheaper foreign labour from its ASEAN neighbours. However, recently it has curbed inward migration of unskilled ECONOMIC INSIGHT – SOUTH E A ST A SIA Q1 2 015 workers, which could place upward pressure on wages in some sectors and alters a situation that companies are accustomed to and rely on. The establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) this year may liberalise labour flows, but mainly for skilled workers. Policymakers in ASEAN recognise the advantages for productivity of free movement of factors of production. Labour is especially important, given that development of skills is otherwise slow. For the indigenous population, Singapore disburses grants to new parents. A secular decline in the birth rate appears to have alarmed policymakers, and their response has been characteristically proactive – and relatively successful – compared to other low-fertility OECD economies. Most other economies in the region will feel under no pressure to follow suit, as their population growth remains relatively high. While the other ASEAN economies benefit from growing populations, they face a difficulty in the ‘brain drain’, which deprives the labour pool of much of its greatest talent. In the Philippines, this has long been a problem, with an estimated 10% of its population working abroad, including many doctors and nurses. The Philippine economy is partly compensated through remittances, but most of the productivity gains accrue to the developed economies in which these emigrants live. In Malaysia, many skilled workers leave: 295,000 did in 2012, of only 4.3m Malaysians working in skilled occupations.3 The flow to Singapore, which accounts for over half of Malaysian emigration, is likely to intensify as the AEC harmonises regulations for skilled labour. Currently, Malaysia and the Philippines cannot compete with Singaporean or US wages. But brain drains have been reversed before. India and China now provide counterexamples, with emigrants returning in large numbers. Fortunately for the countries currently losing out, those who have moved abroad do return to their home countries, despite a wage cut, so long as their sector of expertise exists there. The key is integrating domestic high-tech centres into the international network, so that potential returnees can do so without fear of regression in their career. Providing incentives such as grants for knowledge businesses is a starting point. Creating clusters of businesses in areas with good-quality infrastructure can catalyse the development of a viable new sector in an economy, particularly if those with the requisite education exist. There is little point in investing in upgrading higher education systems to cope with the new economy, Y1990 Y1991 Y1992 Y1993 Y1994 Y1995 Y1996 Y1997 Y1998 Y1999 Y2000 Y2001 Y2002 Y2003 Y2004 Y2005 Y2006 Y2007 Y2008 Y2009 Y2010 Y2011 Y2012 Y2013 if those workers will simply leave to start a career elsewhere. Thailand’s participation rate plummets while Singapore achieves a turnaround Figure 5: Participation rates in ASEAN economies, 1990–2013 (15–64, 1990 =100). 110 105 100 95 90 Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Thailand United States Vietnam Singapore 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 85 Economies across East Asia face a problem with participation rates, particularly for women. Female rates have a stronger effect on variation in the overall participation rate as the male rates tend to be very stable. Even the most developed East Asian economies lag behind other OECD countries – Japan’s rate is just 49%, despite comparable levels of female education. On the basis of comparison with similar economies, Singapore’s female participation has a further six percentage points to grow, according to Acting Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing.4 Ironically, a proposed reason for Singaporean women’s relatively low participation has been the success of the scheme subsidising parenthood, which evidence links to a lower likelihood of working.5 However, the importance of cultural norms must not be underestimated, especially as this problem afflicts the whole region. Malaysia’s female participation level is the lowest in ASEAN, only 47%, and it has barely budged over the period. The government took initial steps to bolster participation in 2012 through the introduction of flexible hours, working from home and provision of childcare centres at work. It aimed to reach 55% participation by 2015, but appears likely to fall short: nevertheless, these types of gender-equality initiatives will likely remain on the agenda for Malaysian firms, given that fewer than 100 of the centres had been built by 2013. They have coincided with a modest uptick in female participation. While research is needed to investigate whether policy caused this uptick, investing in initiatives of this sort would appear beneficial. Thailand’s female participation rate has fallen sharply over the period. This drives not only the fall in overall participation visible in Figure 5, but also the gentle decline in the size of the Thai labour force until 1994 and its slow growth thereafter (Figure 4). Luckily the Thai female participation rate fell from a high starting point: its current level is still the second-highest in the region, after Vietnam but above the US. Informal employment is another important challenge. The OECD estimates6 that this year, 60% of total employment in ASEAN is informal, meaning that workers have no contract, little legal protection, few employment rights and are unlikely to pay taxes. Workers in the informal economy tend to have lower productivity than those in formal employment, although some studies find that the effect is negligible when controlling for the different types of jobs that tend to fall into each category7. Of total employment in Vietnam, only about 35% are wageworkers, making it difficult for the government to include the other 65% in its voluntary social insurance scheme 8 . On the other hand, there is evidence that the difference between informal and formal employment is becoming less salient, including the fact that some professionals are simultaneously practising both. ASEAN’s recent experience demonstrates a variety of strategies being implemented across different aspects of the labour market. These economies’ performance has been strong in terms of raising the quality of their workers and raising the number in work, unsurprising given the region’s consistently impressive growth rate. Productivity improvement has been uniformly strong, at least since the Philippines’ reforms spurred it out of stagnation around 2000. Each country has seen its labour force grow alongside a rapidly expanding population. However, looking beneath this trend reveals that participation has been less impressive – female participation could easily rise. Source: ILO KILM icaew.com/economicinsight cebr.com ECONOMIC INSIGHT – SOUTH E A ST A SIA Q1 2 015 The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) unexpectedly eased monetary policy, following recent moves towards looser policy by several other major central banks – notably the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan. The Singapore dollar, the main instrument, was constrained to a more gently sloped band of appreciation against other currencies. Business confidence has fallen in Singapore to its lowest level since 2013. Global and regional factors were cited: a slowdown in global trade volumes is likely, given Japan and Europe appear to be stagnating. Exports to China will also be curtailed; China’s recent GDP figures show the slowdown in growth proceeding as planned. Away from economic news, the country also begins a year-long celebration of its independence, which it attained 50 years ago. Underlying cultural drivers are important, but some targeted reforms such as making workplaces more childfriendly could speed up the process. Tackling the brain drain poses greater challenges, but is not intractable. It will require more investment in those sectors that workers are leaving. Informal employment is also likely to be a problem that lasts some time. Governments will need to reach out to those sectors of the economy and offer the same skills training opportunities that are available to regular workers. An OECD initiative recommends governments ‘give attention to strategies that facilitate the transition of entrepreneurs and self-employed from the informal economy into the formal economy’9. Plans drawn up now will prove pivotal to the region’s ability to improve future performance. It has shown excellent growth over the past two decades, but China’s contribution to that cannot be overestimated. Cebr does not expect China to experience a hard landing, unsustainable property price growth notwithstanding. We expect deceleration and a shift to domestic consumption-led growth over the coming years. South East Asia’s response must involve developing the skills that can replace commodities as sources of export earnings, which requires long-term planning and investment now. Thailand remains in the grip of political unrest and animosity between its two political factions. Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was jailed following a trial over her involvement in a flagship rice-subsidy scheme, whereby farmers received guaranteed payment above market rates. The scheme was economically inefficient, however, some are questioning whether the impeachment was politically driven. Thailand’s unrest last year led to a sharp hit to its usually healthy growth, which was around 0.7% for 2014. The junta will be hoping that the verdict does not spark a repeat of last year’s protests – a large security presence and strict curfew have so far prevented it. Recent developments in the ASEAN region In November, Indonesia axed a large subsidy scheme, and is moving towards releasing resources for investment elsewhere – signs that President Joko Widodo can deliver on his manifesto promises. Total fuel subsidies are worth $21bn, or 13% of the budget. The challenges of working against the entrenched establishment, and prospects of regulatory gridlock, had led to some scepticism about his prospects of success; the scrapping of the fuel subsidy even brought protests. But the move gives promise that his programme of reform – which the electorate gave a strong democratic mandate – may gain traction. To be successful, more regulation and policy will be needed in the area of tax and governance, and regulation that mandates all entities to produce financial reports annually. This gives Cebr confidence to maintain the strong forecasts for Indonesia made in 2014. Malaysia’s planned goods and services tax (GST), due to come into force in April, continues to spark debate. A World Bank economist has suggested the list of exempted items be shortened, to offset the fiscal squeeze that the oil-price fall will create. The GST has been controversial. Consumers in Malaysia were recently reported to be the least confident in the region; a fact attributed in part to the tax. Hence reducing the exemption list would be politically difficult.10 Many Malaysians are concerned that the tax will put upward pressure on the inflation rate. December in the Philippines saw typhoon Hagupit/‘Ruby’ cause destruction in Tacloban and many other areas hit by Haiyan last year. Fortunately, better planning and the weaker force of Hagupit meant that the number of lives lost was much lower. Infrastructure problems persist, threatening the Philippines’ stellar growth rate, and blackouts are foreseen next year. A focus on this area over the next year, made possible partly by strong public finances, should enable the islands to pursue a raft of infrastructure projects. The Philippine public–private partnership (PPP) centre has 26 approved construction projects, collectively worth $24.5bn11. This could greatly improve its infrastructure, rated just 91st out of 144 countries worldwide by the World Economic Forum. icaew.com/economicinsight cebr.com Vietnam continues to cement its place as a major electronics producer, as the cost advantage moves out of China as wages there rise. Samsung has increased its direct investment in the economy by around 40% to $12bn. Vietnam’s latest GDP figures show a strong 6% gain during 2014, on preliminary estimates, boosted by a 13.6% gain in exports. The government’s credit ratings were also raised last year. However, the fall in oil prices now threatens its fiscal position. Thailand to see better growth than last year, but not hitting past rates yet Figure 6: forecasts for GDP growth between 2015 and 2020. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Indonesia 2015 Malaysia 2016 Philippines Singapore 2017 2018 Thailand 2019 Vietnam 2020 Total ASEAN (ASEAN-6 plus Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar) Source: Cebr analysis ECONOMIC INSIGHT – SOUTH E A ST A SIA Q1 2 015 1 Kuruvilla, ‘Linkages Between Industrialization Strategies and Industrial Relations/Human Resource Policies: Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and India’ 2 This measures the disparity between the chances of being unemployed for workers with different educational levels. If unemployment is evenly spread, it suggests the problem lies with overall deficiency of demand rather than inappropriate skills. Disparity suggests lower-educated workers’ skills are not well adapted to the economy’s needs. 3 Penang Monthly, ‘Brain Drain in Numbers’, 27 July 2014 4 The Straits Times Singapolitics. ‘Be realistic about raising labour force participation rate’ 5 Abdullah, Abu Bakar & Abdullah, ‘Fertility Model and Female Labour Force Participation in Selected ASEAN Countries’ 6 Martinez-Fernandez & Powell, ‘Employment and Skills Strategies in Southeast Asia’ 7 Pratap & Quintin, ‘Are labor markets segmented in developing countries? A semiparametric approach’, 2009 8 Vietnam’s Labour Market Update, Q1 2014 9 Martinez-Fernandez & Powell, ‘Employment and Skills Strategies in Southeast Asia’ 10 The Global Consumer Confidence Index, Nielsen 11 Wall Street Journal, ‘Philippines Strives for Public-Private Solution to Infrastructure Woes’, 22 January 2015 Cebr The Centre for Economics and Business Research is an independent consultancy with a reputation for sound business advice based on thorough and insightful analysis. Since 1993 Cebr has been at the forefront of business and public interest research. They provide analysis, forecasts and strategic advice to major multinational companies, financial institutions, government departments and trade bodies. Indonesia Malaysia ICAEW is a world leading professional membership organisation that promotes, develops and supports over 144,000 chartered accountants worldwide. We provide qualifications and professional development, share our knowledge, insight and technical expertise, and protect the quality and integrity of the accountancy and finance profession. As leaders in accountancy, finance and business our members have the knowledge, skills and commitment to maintain the highest professional standards and integrity. Together we contribute to the success of individuals, organisations, communities and economies around the world. Because of us, people can do business with confidence. ICAEW is a founder member of Chartered Accountants Worldwide and the Global Accounting Alliance. www.charteredaccountantsworldwide.com www.globalaccountingalliance.com For enquiries or additional information, please contact: Amy Tee T (+65) 9108 1517 E [email protected] ICAEW 9 Temasek Boulevard #09–01 Suntec Tower Two Singapore 038989 icaew.com/southeastasia ICAEW Chartered Accountants’ Hall Moorgate Place London EC2R 6EA UK icaew.com © ICAEW 2015 MKTPLN13796 02/15