APEC Labour and Social Protection Network Meeting

______

2011/SOM1/HRDWG/091

Agenda Item: Plenary 17

LSPN Meeting Summary

Purpose: Information

Submitted by: LSPN Coordinator

APEC Labour and Social Protection Network Meeting

Summary Report

March 8-9, 2011

1The APEC Labour and Social Protection Network Meeting (LSPN) was held on March 8-9, 2011 during the 33rd APEC Human Resource Development Working Group (HRDWG) in Washington DC, USA.

2The Chair and LSPN Coordinator, Jason Coutts (Australia) and host economy co-chair, Chris Watson (United States) welcomed delegates. Fourteen economies were in attendance: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Philippines, New Zealand, Russian Federation, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, the United States and Vietnam. Representatives from PECC and ABAC were welcomed as observers.

3With thanks to the representative of Chile, the meeting noted the special significance of LSPN’s role in addressing gender issues on March 8, International Day of Women.

4The LSPN reviewed and accepted the agenda with some amendments.

Issues Arising from HRDWG Plenary

5As requested by the Lead Shepherd, LSPN discussed the recommendations of the Independent Assessment of the HRDWG.

6LSPN noted the need to focus closely on the priorities set by APEC leaders as reflected in the Rank 1 Criteria for funding proposals.

7LSPN discussed ways to develop, and provide better assurance of continuity in, leadership in the working group and LSPN. The Network discussed the role, scope and duration of the position of the Deputy Lead Shepherd and Deputy Network Coordinators. The meeting agreed in principle with the value of appointing a Deputy Lead Shepherd and Deputy Network Coordinators and that, where candidates were available, strong consideration should be given to promoting gender balance and to a balance between developed and developing economies. LSPN noted the potential synergies for prospective APEC host economies taking the role of Deputy Network Coordinator.

8LSPN agreed that issue of Deputy Lead Shepherd should be resolved by the full plenary of HRDWG.

9LSPN agreed that the role and duration of appointmentof the Deputy Network Coordinator should be as determined from time to time by the network.

10The Chair called for nominations for the position of DNC of the LSPN.

11Alexey VOVCHENKO of the Russian Federation was electedunopposed and by general acclaim.

Medium Term Plan for HRDWG

12The Network supported the tabling of the draft HRDWG Medium Term Action Plan. The LSPN agreed that the ILO should be added to the list of external organizations for collaboration and that the Network could expand on its policy objectives in a separate document if necessary.

Updates by APEC Member Economies on labour and social protection issues and developments

13Network members present short updates on labour and social protection developments in their economies. Presentations included: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Philippines, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, and the United States. This was followed by a short discussion of common themes which included the challenges of under-employment, vulnerable workers and engagement of youth in the labour market.

14On behalf of the LSPN the Chair thanked the Russian Federation for agreeing to host the next HRDWG.

Outcomes of APEC Leaders Meeting and HRD Ministers’ Meeting

15The Chair made a short presentation summarizing the main points of particular relevance to the LSPN emerging from the APEC Leaders Meeting in Yokohama and the HRD Minister’s Meeting in Beijing.

16With the support of the LSPN, the chair expressed thanks to the Chinese Government for reinvigorating the LSPN agenda through hosting the first HRD Ministers’ Meeting in 9 years.

17The LSPN noted the need to focus on the new priorities set by leaders and on the need to better articulate the connection between HRD policy development and APEC’s goals.

18The LSPN also noted the need to chart and monitor its performance against these goals. The Chair agreed to develop andcirculate a priorities matrix for this purpose utilizing the Leaders Statement, Ministers’ Action Plan and the Rank 1 APEC Funding Criteria as the first step towards matching projects to the APEC priorities and to assisting future LSPN meetings to address any gaps. It was noted that projects which did not address the priorities may need to be reconsidered and reevaluated.

Reports on Completed Projects

19The United States gave an overview of the completed project Human Resource Impacts of the Global Economic Crisis. The purpose of the project was to assess human resource impacts of retaining and creating new employment. The project also assessed social safety nets and evaluated effectiveness of these projects. The research paper looked at active and passive labor markets responses. The paper was presented at a conference workshop in Jakarta. A discussion on employment effects of the GEC followed.

20The Philippines presented the project, Effective Labor Market Signaling: A strategy for solving the problem of unemployment and talent mismatch. The Philippines identified three main labor market challenges: structural unemployment; job-skill mismatch; and talent shortage. The objective is to identify core labor market signals from key industries and education with a focus on domestic labor market signaling and key industries that will drive employment creation. The project will also touch base with those employers to determine which skills they need and education institutions to determine what they need from employers to design skill training programs.

ABAC Presentation

21David Dodwell from ABAC led a discussion on potential collaboration between LSPN and ABAC on Skills Mapping in the APEC Region project. There was strong support for LSPN working with ABAC generally, and broad endorsement of a skills mapping project noting sensitivities, and previous work, would need to be considered in taking it forward. Australiaand Koreaoffered to develop a concept in collaboration with ABAC for consideration by LSPN out of session.

Reports of Proposed Projects

22Japan presented on proposed future projects:

APEC Forum on Measures for the Socially Vulnerable for Realizing “Inclusive Growth”

APEC Training Programme on the Adoption of IT

APEC Vocational Training Project in Cooperation with Enterprises

23LSPN members expressed support for these projects and noted the valuable contribution that self funded projects make to the work of the HRDWG.

24The United States presented a project proposal entitled Advancing Inclusive Growth through Social Protection. The project hopes to increase understanding of social protection, the effectiveness of these programs and to evaluate the sustainability of social protection programs.

There was active discussion with a number of Network members expressing support for the project.

Workshop on Aligning Projects to APEC Priorities

25The Coordinator gave a short presentation of possible ways for aligning future projects to APEC priorities and the LSPN then conducted a brainstorming exercise on new project ideas. The LSPN identified over 20 new project ideas and then identified 5 which had strongest interest from multiple economies. LSPN agreed to circulate all the ideas to all economies to assist in stimulating new concept notes.

Other Business

26China offered an update on the APEC Skills Training and Development Centre and encouraged all economies to contribute to, and participate in, activities organized through this APEC project.

Meeting Conclusion

27On behalf of the LSPN the Coordinator again thanked the US for hosting the event and both the APEC secretariat and US staff for their hard work leading up to and during the meeting.