Summary (English)

In the face of global competition, many countries in Europe and elsewhere are adopting a flexicurity approach to labour regulation. This approach balances flexibility for employers to hire and retrench workers, with support for workers transitioning between jobs. A review of six Asian countries finds that China and Korea have recently enacted reforms based on the flexicurity approach. In southeast Asia, Singapore and Malaysia provide some of the elements of the approach but they do not provide unemployment insurance. Meanwhile, India and Sri Lanka have made few reforms in recent years and continue to rely on an older model of employer-based security. These distinct sub-regional patterns characterize the formal economy. In China, India and Sri Lanka, governments use public works, self-employment programs and skills training to support the informal workforce.