South Asia Development Update, October 2024: Women, Jobs, and Growth

World Bank

No 42002, World Bank Publications - Reports from The World Bank Group

Abstract: South Asia’s growth is on track to exceed earlier expectations, in a broad-based upturn. The region is expected to remain the fastest-growing among emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs). Several risks could upend this generally promising outlook, including extreme weather events, social unrest, and policy missteps, such as reform delays. But South Asian countries also have considerable untapped potential that could help them further boost productivity growth and employment and adapt to climate change. In particular, with about two-thirds of the region’s working-age women out of the labor force, raising female employment rates to those of men could increase per capita income by as much as one-half. Measures to accelerate job creation, remove obstacles to women working, and equalize gender rights would be more effective if combined with a shift toward social norms that looked more favorably on working women. Also, most South Asian countries rank among the EMDEs least open to global trade and investment. Greater openness could boost women’s employment, spur the growth of firms, and allow the region to take better advantage of the reshaping of global supply chains and trade. Reducing the cost of conducting business could help the region better harness large-scale remittance inflows.

Keywords: Gender; International; Economics; and; Trade; Macroeconomics; and; Economic; Growth; Social; Protections; and; Labor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
Note: ISBN 978-1-4648-2170-7
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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