This book analyses the role of employment relations in the context of economic development in some of the key Asian economies: China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, the Phillipines, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. In recent years, these Asian economies have become increasingly more open and export-driven, and there is strong interest all over the world in the Asian economic `miracle' among practitioners and scholars alike. Although much has been written on this region, few books have concentrated on the human resource aspects of this growth. The authors build on the basic premise that the initial success of these countries has lain in low wages and suppression of workers' rights. However, they point out that as employment relations evolve enterprises will either pull out due to rising wages, or stay and prosper by adapting to higher wages. Cases are provided to illustrate both of these features. The evidence in the book suggests that unless a synergy is created between firm-level and state-level human resource policies in areas such as skill formation and workers' need for voice, economic growth is unlikely to be sustainable.

Economic growth in Asia over the past half century has led to significant changes in societies, business organization and the nature of work. This has been accompanied by the rise in some countries of trade unions and also of employers’ associations. This book explores the nature of employers’ associations in the major countries of Asia. It considers how employers’ associations have developed in recent decades, how changes in market structures and the profile of economies have affected employers’ associations, how employers’ associations deal with issues to do with pay and employment conditions, and how they interact with regulation and the state. The book shows how the differing political and institutional contexts of different countries, and different economic conditions, greatly affect the nature of employers’ associations and also the wider context of labour markets and trade unions.

Reviews trends in labour relations in 6 countries in the Asia Pacific in the 1990s. Discusses challenges facing trade unions in the near future.

Globalization and labour market deregulation have had an impact on employment and workers, and brought pressure to bear on trade unions. This study looks at the challenges of globalization and deregulation in the Asia Pacific, and possible responses to them in a variety of ways.

There has been enormous economic development in the Asia-Pacific region since 1945. Employment relations policies have changed rapidly in both the older industrialised market economies and in the newly industrialising economies. It is particularly interesting to compare the various recovery strategies of different countries following the economic turmoil of the late 1990s. The Japanese appeared to continue their pattern of life-time employment. In Australia and New Zealand there have been attempts to discontinue the award-wage system to foster international competitiveness. In South Korea, companies have demanded more flexibility to make it easier to dismiss workers. There has also been much change in other countries, for example, moves towards deregulation in China, Indonesia and Taiwan.This book considers human resource initiatives in the workplace and industrial relations reform from the perspectives of employers, managers, unions and academics, in particular in Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Taiwan, and in the Asia-Pacific region generally.Employment Relations in the Asia-Pacific is essential reading for practitioners and students of industrial relations and human resource management at graduate and undergraduate levels, and for specialists in international business and economics, trade unions, employer associations and government.