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JAKARTA – A plan by Southeast Asian countries to establish a European Union-inspired single market next year could worsen inequality and is likely to benefit men more than women, a new study warned Wednesday.
 
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has set 2015 as the target to create a single economic market across the 10-nation bloc, which is home to some 600 million people.
 
It is aimed at improving the flow of goods, services, investment and labor around the region, whose economic powers have long faced criticism for failing to work together more effectively.
 
The single market could add an extra 14 million new jobs and boost Southeast Asia’s annual growth 7.1 percent by 2025, according to the joint study by the U.N.’s International Labour Organization and the Asian Development Bank.
 
However it also warned the gains may not be evenly distributed, and the plan could increase already large gaps between rich and poor across the region.
 
“Unless decisively managed, this could increase inequality and worsen existing labor market deficits — such as vulnerable and informal employment, and working poverty,” the study said.
 
It called for Southeast Asian countries to develop policies that support “inclusive and fair development” and to improve social protection.
 
The study also found that the share of new jobs going to women across the region would be smaller than those going to men.
 
Sukti Dasgupta, an International Labour Organization economist and researcher on the study, said this is due to the sectors that are likely to be boosted by integration, such as construction and transport.
 
The study found that integration would benefit Cambodia, as well as other lower-income countries the most, while hitting Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s top economy, the hardest.
(source : japantimes.co.jp)