II - The Environment: The Economies and Labour Markets

Summary

One part of the hypothesis proposed in the preceding chapter is that different levels of structural transformation generate differing requirements for capital accumulation. To give substance to this proposition we shall, first, look at the process of structural transformation taking place in the ASEAN countries, and then examine the policies on capital accumulation and industrialization pursued by the governments of these countries to bring about the changes. Following upon this, we shall put together some relevant information on the labour market situations in these ASEAN countries. It is desirable because changes in the structure of output are assumed to bring about changes in the structure of employment as well. This will, then, set the stage for testing the second part of the hypothesis proposed in the preceding chapter, that different patterns of industrial relations emerge at different levels of structural transformation, as the economies and labour markets are the important environmental factors for the development of an industrial relations system.

The ASEAN Economies

From the point of view of economic growth, the ASEAN countries were among the best performers in the decade of the 1960s. Their growth performance was spectacular in the decade of the 1970s as well. The growth rate of the real gross domestic product (GDP) of the ASEAN countries as a whole was 5.3 per cent per annum in the 1960s. It jumped to 7.3 per cent per annum in the 1970s. This is remarkable, especially in view of the fact that the growth rates of GDP decelerated from an average of 5.9 per cent per annum in the 1960s to an average of 5.6 per cent per annum in the middle-income countries in the 1970s. The corresponding rates for the industrialized countries were 5.2 per cent per annum in the 1960s and 3.2 per cent per annum in the 1970s. Moreover, we should not forget that the world economy was sluggish in the 1970s due to the recession, and the ASEAN economies, against this odd, grew faster then than in the 1960s.

Inter-country variations in the rates of growth of GDP are also noticeable.