ABSTRACT
The countries of the Asian region differ in size, resource endowment, the nature of the ruling regimes, particular social and political configurations, conditions of poverty and human development, patterns of constraints and features such as the extent of internal political conflict. In terms of conditions of work, the most obvious changes have been: a phase of increase in female employment in some export-oriented industries, followed by a relative decline in such work; the growing insecurity and casualization of work contracts, and much greater dependence upon informal work; the increase in women’s unpaid labour because of policies and processes that reduce public provision of important goods and services. This chapter examines one of these outcomes-the issue of informal work. The Asian region as a whole is seen as the part of the world that has benefited most from the process of globalization. In terms of growth rates of aggregate GDP, this region-and especially East Asia-far outperformed the rest of the world.
