ASEAN

The Association of Southeast Asian

Nations is
a
political
and
economic
organization
of
ten Southeast
Asian countries. It was formed on 8 August
1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore,
and Thailand.
Since
then,
membership
has
expanded
to
include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar
(Burma), and Vietnam. Its aims include
accelerating economic
growth, social
progress, and sociocultural evolution among
its members, protection of regional peace
and stability, and opportunities for member
countries to resolve differences peacefully.
ASEAN covers a land area of 4.4 million square kilometers, 3% of the
total land area of the Earth. ASEAN territorial waters cover an area about
three times larger than its land counterpart. The member countries have a
combined population of approximately 625 million people, 8.8% of the
world's population. In 2015, the
organizations
combined nominal
GDP had grown to more than
US$2.6 trillion. If ASEAN were a single
entity, it would rank as the seventh
largest economy in the world, behind
the US, China, Japan, Germany,
France and the United Kingdom.

ASEAN INTEGRATION
Over the past 50 years the economic landscape of Southeast Asia has
been transformed by rapid economic growth and demographic transitions.
But countries in the region have also been shaped by institutions for regional
cooperation. The oldest and best known is the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), which is now entering a new era as it reaches a major
milestone in 2015 the formation of the ASEAN Community.

Strong economic performance has enabled all ten ASEAN Member

States to achieve significantly higher living standards for its 600 million
women and men. Nevertheless, pervasive vulnerability, gender disparities
and high youth unemployment persist in the regions labour markets. This
contrasts with the overall purpose of the ASEAN Community to build a region
with sustained economic growth accompanied by lasting peace, security
and stability as well as shared prosperity and social progress. 1 An

important part of the ASEAN Community vision is the establishment of a

globally integrated and competitive single market and production base, built
on the principles of equitable economic development and shared prosperity,
through the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).2 The AEC reflects the
contemporary economic challenges that Member States face including
building resilience to global economic volatility, maintaining competitiveness
with the rise of China and India, promoting full and productive employment,
and mitigating excessive inequality. However, ASEAN actions towards
regional economic integration must not only respond to market-related
changes in global and regional demand, investments, and supply chains.
They must also constitute selfdetermined and coherent efforts in delivering
on the social objectives of the ASEAN Community. Whether or not the AEC
accelerates social progress in the region will depend heavily on its labour
market effects. The AEC will impact labour markets directly through the freer
flow of skilled labour and indirectly through trade and investment
liberalization measures. Increased openness will also have important
implications for the structure of economies, jobs, skills, wages and labour
mobility. Understanding this dynamic between the AEC and labour markets is
critical in determining whether regional cooperation will benefit all women
and men in ASEAN.