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In 2017 APEC Policy Support Unit released a number of analytical reports, e.g.:
1. APEC Economic Policy Report 2017: Structural Reform and Human Capital Development (a report by the Economic Committee)
The 2017 APEC Economic Policy Report on Structural Reform and Human Capital Development discusses issues and policies relating to skills development and labour markets in the APEC region. It analyses how generally positive economic changes—such as the growth and development process, trade and globalisation, or technological upgrading—can contribute to structural unemployment, and what can be done to mitigate any negative impacts of these changes.
The report includes case studies by Viet Nam and Indonesia that provide an analysis of their relevant structural reforms and their impact, and some lessons learned and challenges going forward. In addition, all APEC members contributed Individual Economy Reports highlighting the challenges, responses, and opportunities regarding structural reform and human capital development in their economies.
2. APEC Regional Trends Analysis: Declining Labour Share and the Challenge of Inclusion
This issue of APEC Regional Trends Analysis discusses who gains from economic growth and how this growth could be made more inclusive. “Declining Labour Share and the Challenge of Inclusion” finds that the labour share of GDP—an indicator of inclusiveness in an economy—has been on a downward trend over the past two decades. Apart from domestic issues, it identifies technological change and globalisation as catalysts of change in global labour markets and declining labour shares. It presents some policy options that can assist workers to take advantage of new opportunities in a rapidly changing economy.
The next chapter on “APEC Grows Faster amid Global Policy Uncertainty” examines recent economic performance in the region. It finds that APEC is a driver of global growth with output in the region expanding by 3.9% in the first half of 2017. A rebound in trade contributed to this growth, as the value of merchandise exports increased by 10.4% and imports grew 11.9% in the first half of this year. While near-term growth expectations are positive, policy uncertainties on trade and liquidity present downside risks to future growth.
3. APEC in Charts 2017
An annual PSU publication, APEC in Charts provides a graphical overview of the APEC region’s economic, trade and investment performance as well as in areas related to APEC 2017 theme.
Full report
4. APEC’s Bogor Goals Dashboard, 2017
The APEC’s Bogor Goals Dashboard, updated on a yearly basis, includes indicators gathered from respectable public sources for the period 2008-2016. It aims to provide easy-to-understand figures to track the advancement in areas critical to promoting greater regional economic integration, such as liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment. The intention is to display a set of harmonized indicators laying out the evolution across time of certain aspects of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation in quantitative terms.
5. APEC Services Competitiveness Roadmap Baseline Indicators
In 2016, APEC Leaders endorsed the APEC Services Competitiveness Roadmap (ASCR) and its accompanying Implementation Plan. The Roadmap contains APEC-wide actions and mutually agreed overarching targets to be achieved by 2025. The PSU, which has been tasked to facilitate the implementation and monitor progress of the ASCR, prepared baseline indicators to facilitate the mid-term review in 2021 and the final review in 2025. This report contains the PSU’s evaluation of the agreed overarching targets and the compilation of the 19 APEC-wide actions and their corresponding indicators using appropriate international benchmarks. Accompanying the report is a detailed database on the baseline indicators and measures.
Full report and database
6. Review of External Indicators to Monitor Progress for the APEC Supply-Chain Connectivity Framework Action Plan (SCFAP) II
This report reviews the potential aspirational targets for external indicators that are included in the monitoring framework of the APEC Supply-Chain Connectivity Framework Action Plan II 2017-2020 (or SCFAP II). The targets are defined both in terms of ‘APEC rate of improvement by 2020’ (percentage rate of improvement or change) as well as in terms of ‘APEC average level by 2020’ whenever appropriate. These targets however, should be viewed as aspirational for individual economies considering the diverse domestic environment and different stages of development across APEC. The level of progress to achieve the targets will also depend on the initial starting point of each individual economy. OECD average figures are provided to give a regional comparison perspective.
7. Study on the Application of Global Data Standards for Supply Chain Connectivity (Phase 2)
Phase 2 of the study on costs and benefits of applying Global Data Standards (GDS) in supply chains covers three pilot projects, namely: (1) asparagus from Peru to the US; (2) durian from Malaysia to China and Hong Kong, China; and (3) Tequila from Mexico to the US.
As identified following an evaluation of the pilot projects, adoption of GDS comes with both benefits and costs. Among the benefits are reduction of efforts and time spent on information search, greater visibility along the supply chain, and accurate and timely capture of data. There are costs involved too, such as from subscribing to GS1 service, obtaining equipment and software, carrying out data cleaning and adjustment, and training of staff. The study also identifies drivers and challenges of GDS adoption, and suggests a few approaches to explore the wider use of GDS in the APEC region.