Globalization and Employment Relations in Asia and the Pacific: Some Emerging Issues Editorial Introduction

While countries in the Asia and Pacific region have not adopted a uniform approach to employment relations, increased economic development appears to be facilitating a higher degree of labour market institutionalization, as evidenced by the emergence of minimum wage laws, health and safety regulations and independent dispute-settling mechanisms. Although industrial relations institutions are generally rather weak, emerging democratization is resulting in legislative provisions to strengthen the rights of labour, particularly at the enterprise level. In many rapidly industrializing economies of Asia, governments are seeking to accommodate demands by employees and their unions for a more significant voice, and former systems of state suppression are being modified. However, while some degree of convergence can be seen in the goals of employment relations policies of many newly industrializing economies in Asia and the Pacific, this convergence is often being achieved through divergent means.