Poor improvements in productivity are hitting the competitiveness of south-east Asia's former tigers, threatening to push the region further behind China and allowing India to catch up, according to a report released yesterday.

国际劳工组织(International Labour Organisation¹)在为东南亚国家联盟(ASEAN，东盟)撰写的这份报告中表示，2000年至2005年，东南亚工人的人均产出仅增长了15.5%，而印度和中国则分别为26.9%和63.4%。

Between 2000 and 2005, the region's output per worker grew only 15.5 per cent, compared with 26.9 per cent in India and 63.4 per cent in China, the International Labour Organisation said in the report, prepared for the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).

由于生产率表现不佳，东盟在诸多方面的能力受到影响，包括缩小其10个成员国之间发展差距、为日益增多的劳动力创造更多更好的就业机会，以及减少贫困。尽管该地区经济有所增长，但2006年，在东盟2.62亿名工人中，超过半数工人的收入不足以令其家庭摆脱贫困。

Asean's stuttering productivity is affecting its ability to narrow the development gap among its 10 members, create more and better jobs for the growing workforce², and reduce poverty. In spite of economic growth, more than half of Asean's 262m workers did not earn enough in 2006 to push their families above the poverty line.

分析人士表示，鉴于东南亚经济对出口的依赖，提高生产率对于东盟竞争力至关重要。东盟成员国包括文莱、柬埔寨、印尼、老挝、马来西亚、缅甸、菲律宾、新加坡、泰国和越南。

Analysts³ said that given the region's economic reliance on exports, productivity growth was crucial to the competitiveness of Asean, which includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

国际劳工组织亚太地区高级经济学家、该报告作者之一捷尔吉o西拉茨基(Gyorgy Sziraczki)表示："中国的生产率水平已高于东盟，印度也在缩短与东盟的差距。而另一方面，东盟内部存在着巨大的经济发展差距，一端是新加坡，另一端则是柬埔寨这样的国家。这是一种巨大的差距，反映了所谓的发展差距。它们需要消弥这一差距。"

Gyorgy Sziraczki, senior ILO economist⁴ for Asia and the Pacific, and co-author, said: "China already had a higher productivity level than Asean, and India is closing the gap. The other story is, Asean has an enormous development gap - on the one hand Singapore, on the other hand countries like Cambodia. This is an enormous gap, a reflection of the so-called development gap, and they need to close it."

柬埔寨需要15年时间，才能将其与新加坡的人均国内生产总值(GDP)差距缩小25%，而要将这一差距缩小一半，则需要34年时间。

It would take Cambodia 15 years to reduce its per capita GDP gap with Singapore by 25 per cent, and 34 years to halve⁵ it.

2005年，流入东盟的外国直接投资达到创纪录的380亿美元。自2000年以来，该地区总就业率提高了11.8%，许多成员国在减少贫困方面取得了巨大进展。然而，该地区仍有超过十分之一的家庭生活在极端贫困之中。

Foreign direct investment into Asean reached a record $38bn in 2005, total employment increased by 11.8 per cent since 2000, and many member countries had made huge strides in reducing poverty. However, more than one in 10 families still live in extreme poverty.

"如果提高贫困工人的生产率，从而增加其收入，那么贫困率就会下降，"该报告称，"因此，对于持续减少贫困而言，发展高生产率、体面的就业至关重要。"

"If the working poor were more productive and thereby⁶ able to earn more, poverty would decline," the report said. "Thus, the development of productive and decent employment is essential for the sustainable reduction of poverty."