Japan’s Fast Retailing recently announced plans to partner with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to improve social security systems and worker environments in Asia. The ILO will conduct a comparative analysis of the labour markets and employment security environments of the worker economies of Asia where the firm has production bases.

These countries are Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam. The analysis is aimed at furthering policy dialogue across the region.

Starting this month, Fast Retailing will provide $1.8 million over a two-year period for the ILO research, promoting employment insurance in Indonesia and strengthening worker support mechanisms during periods of unemployment.

This is the largest privately-funded project in the history of ILO-led social security initiatives, according to a press release from the company.

Asia's workers, especially garment-manufacturing workers, are at high risk of job displacement due to the rapidly-shifting employment needs of the region's evolving economies. However, existing social protection schemes and labour market policies in the area often do not fully protect workers from risks of unemployment or from risk of hardship associated with protracted unemployment.

Indonesian workers are among those most at risk, so the project will commence in Indonesia and will be managed by the ILO's Indonesia office.

In the first hybrid project of its kind—which combines social protection and practical re-employment measures—ILO will engage government agencies, workers' associations and employer organisations in Indonesia to secure a number of key objectives like ensuring a minimum income and prevent unemployed workers and their families from falling into poverty; facilitating a return to employment as soon as possible through employment services; and upgrading skills and capabilities for better employability in a changing labour market. (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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