Education and Youth Unemployment in Southeast Asia

Abstract

There is a gradual increase in the proportion of adults aged 25 and above who completed upper secondary since 2000. Singapore has the highest rate of adults completed tertiary education. Female enrolment rates in tertiary education are higher than that for males in half of the countries in this region.

1 Youth Literacy Rates

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights sees education or literacy as a human right. The World Declaration on Education for All, endorsed by UNESCO, is committed to achieving education for all citizens in every society, while the Dakar Framework for Action is helping to achieve this aim. Literacy gives rise to more opportunities in life and is the key to development and empowerment.

From Fig. 6.1, youth literacy rates among countries are generally on the rise. Southeast Asian countries (except Laos and Cambodia) are doing well in youth (15–24 years old) literacy, with rates above 95% since 1990, significantly higher than the world’s average of 89.5% (UIS, 2013). This means that a large majority of youths in Southeast Asia “are able to read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life” (UNESCO).¹ Thailand and Indonesia, however, are showing worrying signs of a downward trend since around 2005.

Fig. 6.1

Literacy rates of 15–24-year-olds in Southeast Asia, 1990–2012. Source Millennium Development Goals, accessed on 28 November 2016. Notes Latest available data for Indonesia refer to 2011, for Malaysia and Thailand to 2010, for Cambodia and Vietnam to 2009, for the Philippines to 2008, and for Laos to 2005. No available data for Timor-Leste

Singapore and Brunei top the other countries with a literacy rate of 99.8% in 2012. Singapore’s success in attaining a high literacy rate is a pragmatic strategy. The lack of natural resources compelled Singapore to rely on investing and raising its human capital (Lee et al., 2008).

Considerable progress can be seen in Cambodia and Laos with raising literacy rates among youths. Both countries managed to raise their literacy rates by 10 percentage points from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. This reflects increasing access to education among the younger generations. Nonetheless, Cambodia and Laos still fall short of the world’s average, with literacy rates at 87.1% in 2009 and 83.9% in 2005, respectively. A slowdown in the improvement of literacy rates in Cambodia from 2009 is observed. Part of the reason lies in the limited reach of ethnic minorities and the population that resides in the rural areas. The challenge now is thus to raise the youth literary rates to a sustainable state by reducing gender disparities in education and increasing access to education in rural areas.

2 Expected Years in Full-Time Education

The expected years in full-time education are defined as the number of years of schooling that a child of school entrance age can expect to receive if prevailing patterns of age-specific enrolment rates persist throughout the child’s life. Figure 6.2 shows a steady increase in expected years in full-time education for all Southeast Asian countries. Singapore takes the lead with an expected time of 15.4 years in full-time education in 2013, Brunei has a similar trend, while Myanmar lags with only an expected of 8.6 years in full-time education.

Fig. 6.2

Expected years in full-time education in Southeast Asia, 1980–2013. Source UNESCO Institute for Statistics, accessed on 21 June 2017

An analysis done on OECD indicators (OECD, 2014a) showed that it is expected that a person spends 9.4 years in primary and lower secondary education, 3.4 years for upper secondary, and the rest on post-secondary non-tertiary education and tertiary education. Based on this analysis, a child born in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, or Thailand can be expected to receive full-time education up till the upper secondary level. As for Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam, their expected years in full-time education range from 10 to 12 years.

However, the expected years in full-time education for Myanmar are worrying. Myanmar had an expected year in full-time education of 6 years in 1980 and grew by around two years to reach an expected year of full-time education of 8.3 years in 2005, but since then there has only been a very small increase—to 8.6 years in 2013. It is the only country in Southeast Asia that has an expected year of below 10 years, and this means that a child is not expected to complete his lower secondary education. The lack of education could impede Myanmar’s economic growth. With the changing economic conditions and the world moving towards technology-based industries, a minimum qualification in upper secondary education is essential in preparing an individual for the working world (OECD, 2004).

As for the Philippines, although it started as a country that has the highest education level in Southeast Asia—with an expected of 10.3 years in full-time education in 1980, it did not manage to improve much over the years. The Philippines had the smallest increase in expected years of only one year (11.3 years in 2013), and several other countries overtook it as the years passed such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Timor-Leste.

On the other hand, Thailand was quite the opposite of the Philippines. It saw a spike from 7.9 years in 1980 to 13.1 years in 2013 and is one of the countries with the highest expected years in full-time education, just behind Singapore and Brunei. This could be due to the changes in the sectoral composition of the economy which led to an increase in the returns of education for Thailand. Its high growth rate and the emphasis on the service sector raised the demand for skilled labour and thus the demand for higher education. This shift, together with the National Education Act in 1999 that provides free twelve years of education to its people, explained the rapid rise in expected years of education for Thailand (Blunch, 2016).

3 Rate of Out-Of-School Children of Primary School Age

UNESCO defines the rate of out-of-school children (OOSC) of primary school age as the number of children of official primary school age who are not enrolled in primary or secondary school, expressed as a percentage of the population of official primary school age.

Figure 6.3 shows a general downward trend for the rate of OOSC of primary school age in all Southeast Asian countries. Brunei, Vietnam, and the Philippines were doing pretty well in the 1970s with rates of below 10%, while Myanmar and Indonesia had rates that are at the higher end (38% and 30%, respectively). By 2011, all countries with available data had rates of OOSC below 10%. Myanmar, Indonesia, and Malaysia show a particularly impressive decline. However, despite the low rates, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam are showing signs of an increasing trend from the 2010s.

Fig. 6.3

Rate of out-of-school children of primary school age, 1970–2014. Source UNESCO Institute for Statistics, accessed on 28 November 2016. Notes Latest available data for Vietnam and the Philippines refer to 2013, for Malaysia to 2012, and for Brunei Darussalam to 1995. No available data for Singapore

Vietnam and the Philippines are the two countries with a substantially low rate of OOSC in the mid-1970s of below 5%. However, the rate in the Philippines fluctuated a fair bit throughout the years and even increased a little since 1977. UNESCO reported in its National Education Support Strategy that the quality of elementary education in the Philippines has been declining over the years and there is an underinvestment in educational resources (UNESCO, 2009). These resulted in low scores that had an impact on the increase in dropout rates. However, the implementation of a conditional cash transfer (CCT) policy required families on the receiving end to send their children to school (David & Albert, 2015). The effectiveness of such an implementation is reflected in a steady decline in OOSC rate, where it decreased from 12.3% in 2007 to 3.25% in 2013.

Timor-Leste had one of the steepest drops for OOSC rate. It saw a dip from 22.6% in 2008 to 2.2% in 2014. This may suggest that the government’s aim to provide free basic education for all children since 2005 had been an effective strategy to bring children back to school (Saikia et al., 2011).

An unusual pattern is observed for Brunei. Its rate of OOSC is concaved downwards for the years with available data (1977–1995). The maximum rate was in 1983 at 21.4% and started declining thereafter.

When the data are stratified into gender (data not shown), the trends for the rate of OOSC of primary school age are similar to the overall data in Fig. 6.3. A notable difference is that the rate of OOSC of primary school age for females is generally higher than males except for Brunei. Brunei shows the reverse where females have a slightly lower rate compared to males.

In Timor-Leste, the rate of OOSC for females went down in the 2010s but went up instead for males. A study by Justino et al. (2013) revealed that violence in Timor-Leste undermines educational achievements for males, but not females, in the long run. This was attributed to cultural norms around perceived gender roles. Boys are expected to work and fill in the gaps of dead or disabled male adults involved in the violence, restricting them from going to school. Timor-Leste experienced a conflict in 2006 that could have caused the phenomenon of an increasing rate of out-of-school males in the 2010s.

4 Transition Rate from Primary to Lower Secondary Education

The effective transition rate from primary to lower secondary education is the number of new entrants to the first grade of lower secondary education in the following year expressed as a percentage of the students enrolled in the last grade of primary education in the given year who do not repeat that grade the following year. From Fig. 6.4, it can be seen that the rates have risen considerably in Southeast Asia. However, there was a decline in Malaysia since 2000 and some small fluctuations in Indonesia and Cambodia in recent years.

Fig. 6.4

Effective transition rate from primary to lower secondary general education in Southeast Asia, 1971–2014. Source UNESCO Institute for Statistics, accessed on 20 June 2017

The downward trend for Malaysia came as a surprise as the Malaysian government made strides in democratizing lower secondary education in 1964. The government got rid of the secondary school entrance examination, which allowed all primary school students to progress to lower secondary education. This move could be the reason for the highly effective transition rate of 99.2% for Malaysia in 2000 (Fig. 6.4). Unfortunately, few studies have gone into the phenomenon of this falling effective transition rate in Malaysia. Nonetheless, it may be that parents are enrolling their children into alternative institutions, such as faith-based schools, for secondary education (Malaysia EFA Status Report, 2011). Data for these institutions are difficult to collect, and thus, the government is unable to have complete information on students transiting to alternative schools after primary education.

Malaysia is not the only country seeing a decrease in effective transition rate from primary to lower secondary education. Cambodia, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam are also displaying signs of a downward trend from the 2000s onwards. This is perplexing as actions had been taken by international organizations and the local governments to provide education for children. The decreasing trend could mean that efforts by the organizations and government had ceased or their effects have diminished.

Nonetheless, Myanmar and Indonesia had a huge leap in their effective transition rate from 1975 to 2010. Indonesia managed to go from 60.5% in 1980 to 91.7% in 2014, nearly on par with the other high-achieving Southeast Asia countries. As for Myanmar, although it is still far behind the other countries with a rate of less than 80%, it saw a 24% jump from 1975 (53%) to 2010 (77%). Myanmar provides only free primary school education, which could be the reason for the relatively low effective transition rate to lower secondary. The government had been increasing efforts to battle this dismal rate by increasing stipends to households, thereby encouraging students to stay in school and move on to the secondary school level. Another reason is due to lack of proximity for secondary schools, especially in the rural areas (OECD, 2014b). The recent expansion of secondary schools and the implementation of free education for lower secondary in 2014 could mean that Myanmar will be seeing progress in its effective transition rate.

5 Gross Secondary Enrolment Ratio

Southeast Asian countries saw a huge leap in gross secondary school enrolment ratio from 1970 to 2015. From Fig. 6.5, most countries with available data in the 1970s had an average of 20% gross secondary enrolment rate and achieved a rate of above 50% by 2015 (except for Cambodia with a rate of 45% in 2008). Singapore and Thailand went over a rate of a hundred per cent, which is a statistical artefact indicating cases of either early or late school entrance and grade repetition.

Fig. 6.5

Gross secondary enrolment ratio in Southeast Asia for both sexes, 1970–2015. Source UNESCO Institute for Statistics, accessed on 24 July 2017, except for Singapore. Data for Singapore retrieved from http://data.gov.sg on 24 July 2017. Notes For Brunei, data for 1990 are actually from 1991 and for 1995 from 1994; for Thailand, data for 1970 from 1971 and for 2000 from 2001; for Indonesia, data for 1980 from 1981 and for 1985 from 1986; for the Philippines, data for 1970 from 1971, for 2000 from 2001, for 2010 from 2009, and for 2015 from 2013; for Vietnam, data for 1975 from 1976 and for 2000 from 1998; for Timor-Leste, data for 2000 from 2001; for Cambodia, data for 1970 from 1971, for 1990 from 1991, for 2005 from 2004, and for 2010 from 2008; for Lao, data for 1970 from 1971 and for 1975 from 1977; for Myanmar, data for 1970 from 1971, for 1975 from 1976, and for 2015 from 2014. Latest available data for Cambodia refer to 2010 and for Vietnam refer to 2000

The steepest jump in the ratio is Thailand, which went from 18.1% in 1971 to 129% in 2015. This increase is due mainly to the efforts of the government body in the 1980s, which saw the need to increase secondary education. The Thai government targeted schooling affordability by waiving school fees and providing uniforms and textbooks. It also improved accessibility to secondary schools by establishing secondary classes in existing primary schools in rural areas (John, 1997).

Myanmar on the other hand is moving at a slower pace compared to other countries such as Indonesia and Thailand that started with around the same enrolment rate as it. It grew from 20% in 1971 to only 51% in 2014, whereas Indonesia and Thailand hit a rate of 86% and 129%, respectively, in 2015. Even Laos, which started at a miserable secondary school enrolment ratio of 3.7% in 1971, overtook Myanmar in the 2010s with a rate of 61.7% in 2015. The relatively low secondary school enrolment rate is attributed to the weak education system in Myanmar and that the curriculum does not cater to children who are and will be going into the agricultural sector (Skidmore & Wilson, 2008). This led to a high dropout rate starting from primary school, which eventually affected the enrolment ratio for secondary school.

A notable trend is Cambodia, which saw its secondary enrolment ratio climbing steadily up through the 1970s and 1980s. However, after 1991, there was a dip from 27.8% to 16.5% in the 1990s before Cambodia went back on track and started to rise again (to 45.1 in 2010).

6 Gender Parity Index (GPI) in Southeast Asia

Millennium Development Goals compute gender parity index (GPI) for primary, secondary, and tertiary enrolment by dividing female gross enrolment ratio by male gross enrolment ratio for each relevant category. A GPI of 1.0 (or within 0.97 and 1.03) indicates parity between girls and boys. A GPI above 1.0 indicates a disparity to the disadvantage of boys, while a GPI below 1.0 indicates a disparity to the disadvantage of girls.

6.1 GPI for Primary School Enrolment

Female and male gross enrolment rates are converging among Southeast Asian countries. Figure 6.6 shows that although there are slight fluctuations throughout the years, gender parity in primary enrolment has been largely achieved in this area. Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines have observed a GPI close to 1.0 since the 1990s. Myanmar and Brunei managed to improve their GPI to between 0.97 and 0.99 and achieved stable gender parity by 2000.

Fig. 6.6

Gender parity index for primary-level enrolment of Southeast Asia, 1990–2013. Source Millennium Development Goals, accessed on 28 November 2016. Notes Latest available data for Indonesia refer to 2012, for Myanmar to 2010, and for Malaysia to 2005. Data are not available for Singapore and Timor-Leste

On the other hand, Malaysia had been doing well between 1990 and 2002 in maintaining gender parity but saw a decline since 2003. The last available data in 2005 (0.94) showed that Malaysia had dipped below the recommended parity index of 0.97.

Gender inequality for primary enrolment is still evident in Laos and Cambodia. Their GPI in the 1990s was below 0.85, much lower compared to other countries. However, we see substantial improvements in both countries in terms of narrowing the gender gap, from roughly 0.8–0.95 within the 24 years. A steady increase in GPI to reach gender parity since 1990 in these two countries could be attributed to international pressure to address the gender inequality in primary education. In Cambodia, on top of government efforts, international organizations such as UNICEF rendered aid by providing funds to reduce the costs of education, encouraging education in both boys and girls (Booth, 2016). For Laos, government intervention with the aim of equitable access to primary education resulted in the increase in primary school enrolment, from 58% in 1991 to 89% in 2008. This phenomenon is mainly due to the rise in female enrolment, which significantly closed the gap in gender inequality for primary enrolment (Onphanhdala & Suruga, 2010).

Despite these advances in GPI, Laos and Cambodia still fall short of achieving gender parity, which could be due to cultural norms. For example, research shows that in Cambodia, due to deeply entrenched gender roles, women are expected to remain behind men in terms of education (Booth, 2016). This results in a lack of educational opportunities for women, and increasing gender disparity is observed in higher levels of education.

6.2 GPI for Secondary School Enrolment

From Fig. 6.7, we see that GPI for secondary enrolment varies widely in the region, with disparities to the disadvantage of boys in some countries and the disadvantage of girls in others.

Fig. 6.7

Gender parity index for secondary-level enrolment of Southeast Asia, 1990–2013. Source Millennium Development Goals, accessed on 28 November 2016. Notes Latest available data for Malaysia refer to 2012, for Myanmar to 2010, for Cambodia to 2009, and for Vietnam to 2008. Data not available for Singapore and Timor-Leste

Similar to GPI in primary enrolment, Laos and Cambodia have made a tremendous stride in closing the gender gaps in secondary enrolment. However, as mentioned, the gender gap still exists and is greater than in primary enrolment (Fig. 6.7). Laos had a GPI of 0.89 in 2013, and Cambodia had a GPI of 0.85 in 2008, with signs of decrease.

Looking at the same figure, gender gaps have reversed in secondary enrolment for the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Thailand. The latest data in 2013 show boys are at a disadvantage in terms of secondary-level enrolment with GPIs of 1.07, 1.05, and 1.08, respectively. This situation suggests the possibility of different existing gender roles having an impact on the differential education level between boys and girls. For example, boys from low-income families in the Philippines drop out during the transition to secondary school to contribute to household income (UNICEF, 2009).

Malaysia started with a GPI of 1.07 in 1990. Over the years, it managed to decrease its GPI and attain gender parity in 2006. However, the drop in GPI continued and the initial disadvantage to boys shifted to a disadvantage to girls at secondary-level enrolment.

Singapore, Indonesia, and Brunei are the only Southeast Asian countries that have achieved gender parity in secondary enrolment. However, it is important to bear in mind that these values reflect trends at the national level. GPI at regional levels, especially for larger countries like Indonesia, might reflect a different reality where gender disparity continues to exist in specific segments of rural and urban areas.

6.3 GPI for Tertiary School Enrolment

Figure 6.8 shows that the GPI for tertiary school enrolment among Southeast Asian countries depicts a polarizing trend: half the countries had GPI above 1, signifying gender disparity to the disadvantage of boys, while the other half had GPI below 1, signifying the reverse. Despite the case, almost all countries seem to be converging towards gender parity.

Fig. 6.8

Gender parity index for tertiary-level enrolment of Southeast Asia, 1990–2013. Source Millennium Development Goals, accessed on 28 November 2016. Notes Latest available data for Indonesia, Malaysia, and Myanmar refer to 2012, for Myanmar to 2010, and for Cambodia to 2011. Data not available for Singapore and Timor-Leste

Brunei, with an average GPI of 1.74, is the exception with females enrolled outnumbering males by a considerable margin (between 15 and 20% over the years since 1995). This significant difference in tertiary enrolment between the two genders can be explained by girls outdoing boys in mathematics and English during pre-tertiary education, where a good performance in both subjects is essential in getting a tertiary education (Metussin, 2017).

Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Thailand see a consistent GPI of above 1.2. In Malaysia, the government prioritized education when it saw the economic success neighbouring countries had achieved with high education. This sustained investment in education led to a narrowing of the gender gap and even resulted in male education lagging behind that of females (Asadullah, 2014). Although not much research has been done regarding this phenomenon in this region, OECD (2008) suggests that the reversal in gender inequality can be attributed to the higher pay-off that females obtain compared to males between a graduate and non-graduate.

As for Singapore, it managed to raise its GPI from 0.77 in 1990 to achieving gender parity in 2005. Since then, its GPI had risen steadily, reached an all-time high of 1.1 in 2011, and then dropped to 1.08 in 2013, closing the disparity gap.

7 Gender Differences in University Graduates by Fields of Study

Females have been enrolled in all different kinds of field in tertiary education. The enrolment in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and veterinary has decreased most notably in Malaysia (Fig. 6.9). Enrolment in education, arts, and social sciences remains high. In Brunei, the female enrolment rates in information technology, health and welfare, and natural sciences are high, whereas enrolment in engineering, manufacturing, and construction remains significantly lower. Females in the Philippines and Malaysia also have high rates of health and welfare. There is a notable increase for Malaysian females to specialize in natural sciences, mathematics, and statistics since 2005.

Fig. 6.9

Percentage of female tertiary graduates in different fields of study in Southeast Asia, 1999–2015. Source UNESCO Institute for Statistics, accessed on 21 June 2017. Note No data for Singapore and Timor-Leste

8 Population with at least Completed Upper Secondary Education

There is a general increasing trend in the proportion of the population aged 25 and above with at least completed upper secondary education in Southeast Asian countries. The percentage attainment varies widely among countries, with Singapore having the highest percentage of 69.5% in 2014 and Cambodia having the lowest with 6.3% in 2009 (Fig. 6.10). A survey done by OECD concluded that upper secondary education plays an important role in preparing young people with the minimum level of education to become productive members of the workforce (OECD, 2004).

Fig. 6.10

Percentage of population age 25+ with at least completed upper secondary education in Southeast Asia, 2000–2014. Source World Bank, accessed on 21 June 2017. Notes Latest available data for Indonesia and Thailand refer to 2013, for Malaysia to 2010, and for Vietnam and Cambodia to 2009. Data not available for Brunei, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Timor-Leste

The level of educational attainment can be linked to the level of development in the country. Developed countries place much emphasis on higher education levels. Singapore, irrefutably the most developed country in Southeast Asia, is a good example in this case. Singapore has developed rapidly since its independence in 1965, shifting from a labour-intensive economy to a knowledge-based economy. The economic transformation thereby required a highly trained workforce. This resulted in a large and rising percentage of the population receiving at least upper secondary education to gain the necessary knowledge and skills required to drive the economy (Murray et al., 1980).

For developing countries, education reforms can be said to be the main driver of the rising percentage of the population to have obtained at least upper secondary education. The 1988 free public secondary education act in the Philippines and four other reforms thereafter allowed for the increase. The segregation of cohorts before and after the implementation of the policy saw the latter cohort benefitting from the policy with a much higher percentage of people having completed upper secondary compared to the former (Revilla & Laarni, 2014).

On the other hand, the changes in the sectoral composition of the economy led to an increase in the returns of education for Thailand. Its high growth rate and the emphasis on the service sector raised the demand for skilled labour and thus the demand for higher education. This shift, together with the National Education Act in 1999 that provides free twelve years of education to its people, explained the increasing percentage of the population that had completed upper secondary education (Blunch, 2016). Indonesia followed a similar trend. Nevertheless, the percentages in both countries remain low at around 30% in 2013.

Malaysia saw a decline in the percentage of the population having at least completed upper secondary education from 35.7% in 2000 to 27.6% in 2005 but managed to climb back up after 2005 to reach a comparable percentage to the Philippines in 2009.

9 Population with at least Completed Tertiary Education

The trend for the percentage of population aged 25 and above with at least completed tertiary education (Fig. 6.11) is similar to that of completed upper secondary education (Fig. 6.10). Countries that reflect a high percentage for upper secondary education correspond with a high percentage for tertiary education and vice versa. However, the proportion of population that had at least completed tertiary education is lower than for upper secondary education. As economies continue to develop, there will be an increase in demand for higher educated workers.

Fig. 6.11

Percentage of population age 25+ with at least completed tertiary education in Southeast Asia, 2000–2014. Source World Bank, accessed on 21 June 2017. Notes Latest available data for the Philippines and Thailand refer to 2013, for Vietnam to 2009, for Cambodia to 2007, and for Malaysia to 2000. Data not available for Brunei, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Timor-Leste

In Singapore, there is a limited proportion of graduates from each cohort that is capped at 30–40%. This is to prevent the oversaturation of graduates and ensures that the education system is in line with the needs of the economy. Figure 6.11 shows the trend of an increase in the population who completed tertiary education from 29.1% in 2005 to 42.4% in 2014 with signs of a slowing increase. Singapore is looking to increasing university places by another 3000 in 2020 to accommodate the increasing demand for university education.²

As for the other Southeast Asian countries, the proportion of the population with a completed tertiary education is below 30%. This is not surprising given that they are still developing and their economies are largely driven by labour-intensive sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing. However, countries like Thailand and the Philippines have started shifting away from these labour-intensive sectors to high-skill services, thereby increasing the demand for university graduates (Mehta et al., 2013). Therefore, there is a need to align the education system and prepare the population for the change. This is reflected by the gradual increase in the per cent of the population aged 25 and above with at least completed tertiary education.

The Philippines saw a gradual rise in the per cent of the population with completed tertiary education from 8.6% in 2000 to 26.8% in 2010 and has thereafter remained stagnant. There is a slight drop in percentage in Thailand from 2004 (13%) to 2010 (12%), before starting to rise steadily till 16.9% in 2013. The increase in the per cent of the population obtaining tertiary education is due to the Thai government prioritizing investment in education, budgeting an average of 4% of their GDP since 2000, and expanding tertiary education opportunities (Paweenawat & Vechbanyongratana, 2015). This percentage remains lower than 10% in Indonesia and Vietnam. Data on Cambodia, only available in 2007, show that only 1.5% of the 25 and older had completed the tertiary education at that time.

10 Youth Unemployment in Southeast Asia

Youth unemployment refers to the share of the labour force aged 15–24 without work but available for and seeking employment. According to International Labour Organization (2015), global youth unemployment rates have been fluctuating between 11.7 and 13.2% from 1995 to 2015. As shown in Fig. 6.12b, c, youth unemployment rates vary across the different countries in the region, but female youth unemployment rates are generally higher than that of males. As a region, Southeast Asia has a high youth unemployment rate which is mostly driven by the high rate in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste.

Fig. 6.12a

Youth (aged 15–24) unemployment rates in Southeast Asia, 1990–2015 (% of total labour force)

Fig. 6.12b

Female youth (aged 15–24) unemployment rates in Southeast Asia, 1990–2015 (% of total labour force)

Fig. 6.12c

Male youth (aged 15–24) unemployment rates in Southeast Asia, 1990–2015 (% of total labour force). Source International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT database, accessed on March 2017

Throughout the past decades, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste have had youth unemployment rates that were higher than the global rates (Fig. 6.12a). The Philippines and Timor-Leste recorded similar patterns of fluctuations, but youth unemployment rates were generally higher in the Philippines. Youth unemployment rates in the Philippines fluctuated between 15 and 24.8% from 1990 to 2015, while youth unemployment rates in Timor-Leste fluctuated between 12 and 16.5% within the same period (Fig. 6.12a).

High youth unemployment rates in Timor-Leste could be attributed to political and civil disturbances that began before its independence in 2002 (Saldanha & Redden, 2009). The unrest led to the collapse of civil service, the displacement of individuals including professionals and the contraction of its economy (Saldanha & Redden, 2009). As a young nation, job prospects for young people in Timor-Leste remain largely limited (Saldanha & Redden, 2009).

As for the Philippines, its consistently weak per-capita GDP growth (Fig. 2.8a) suggests limited employment opportunities for its young population. Despite the latter, the Philippines observed declining youth unemployment rates from 2000 to 2015, which could be attributed to the growth in the country’s service sector (Bank, 2011). Furthermore, female youth employment rates were also disproportionately higher than that of male youth unemployment rates in the Philippines (Fig. 6.12b, c). With reference to Fig. 2.12, the limited participation of women in the Philippines’ labour market may be attributed to its relatively high GII values ranging from 0.4 to 0.5.

Indonesia was badly hurt by the Asian financial crisis in 1997. Its youth unemployment rate observed an accelerated growth of 14.1% from 2000 to 2005, before surpassing the Philippines and Timor-Leste with the highest youth unemployment rate of 32.3% in 2005. According to Comola and De Mello (2011), Indonesia went through a process of fiscal decentralization in 2001, which resulted in a sharp increase in its minimum wage. Employers were therefore deterred from employing youths, for most were usually without job experiences (Comola & De Mello, 2011; Pratomo, 2016). Within the same period, female youth unemployment in Indonesia observed a greater increase as compared to male unemployment; Indonesia’s female youth unemployment rate increased by 19.2% (Fig. 6.12b), while the male youth unemployment rate increased only by 3.6% (Fig. 6.12c). The dominating perception of women as the secondary earners in Indonesia may have driven female unemployment, especially during the 2001 fiscal decentralization (Oey-Gardiner & Sulastri, 2000 as cited in Utomo, 2012). Despite a decline of 12.1% from 2005 to 2015, Indonesia remained the country with the highest youth unemployment rate in the region (Fig. 6.12a).

The other Southeast Asian countries have had youth unemployment rates lower than that of global rates (Fig. 6.12a). It is interesting to note that Singapore and Brunei, the only developed countries in Southeast Asia, have observed higher youth unemployment rates as compared to Thailand, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Cambodia from 1990 to 2015.

Singapore recorded a climb of 5.30% in youth unemployment rates from 2000 to 2005, possibly due to the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis, before a steady decline from 10.70% in 2005 to 4.20% in 2015, as the economy recovered and grew (Fig. 6.12a). Brunei, on the other hand, began to experience a steady decline from 11.72% in 1990 to 4.77% in 2010 (Fig. 6.12a). According to Roberts (2011), there was a conscious effort made by the current Sultan to generate employment by expanding the agricultural and government sector. Brunei also observed a notable decline of 7.87% in the female youth unemployment rate from 1990 to 2010 (Fig. 6.12b), possibly due to increased governmental efforts to ensure equal educational opportunities for women; for instance, 65.0% of 2838 students studying at the University of Brunei Darussalam in 2010 were females (Government of Brunei Darussalam, 2001 as cited in Anaman & Kassim, 2006).

Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Cambodia have had the lowest youth unemployment rates in the region (Fig. 6.12a). By 2015, Cambodia had the lowest youth unemployment rate of 0.30% in the region (Fig. 6.12a). The latter could be attributed to Cambodia’s growing agriculture and service sectors that have been significant sources of youth employment (Elder, 2014 as cited in McKay et al., 2018).

It is crucial to note that the data sets do not take into account the large numbers of Southeast Asian youths working in informal sectors, i.e. subsistence agriculture, and temporary or casual jobs (McKay et al., 2018; Saldanha & Redden, 2009).