Asia-Pacific Businesses Feel the Squeeze as Labour Standards Shape Trade and Growth

Employer and Business Membership Organizations, known as EBMOs, are responding through policy advocacy, workplace advice, tools for assessing labour risks and briefings that explain changing requirements.

For businesses across Asia and the Pacific, decisions about winning overseas orders and remaining part of international supply chains increasingly involve meeting labour and responsible business requirements. An International Labour Organization survey of 60 employer and business membership organizations across 22 countries and economies shows how these expectations are influencing market access and competitiveness, creating demand for guidance from the organizations companies turn to for support.

The survey reflects the views of organizations that represent businesses and help them navigate changing requirements. Among respondents answering the main survey questions, 96 per cent said these requirements were relevant to their member companies, and 81 per cent reported that companies faced greater pressure to meet them than two to three years ago.

Keeping access to markets brings new demands

Businesses encounter pressure through several overlapping channels, including national regulations, trade-related labour requirements, human rights due diligence, international buyers' expectations and supply-chain practices. Understanding what these requirements mean for everyday operations can involve interpreting different expectations together, making practical advice valuable for companies trying to meet their obligations and maintain commercial relationships.

Maintaining market access and export competitiveness was the most frequently cited reason businesses sought support, showing how closely labour standards and responsible conduct are becoming connected to commercial decisions. For member companies, the need for guidance concerns their ability to respond to market requirements and remain competitive as expectations change.

Business advisers face their own resource squeeze

Employer and Business Membership Organizations, known as EBMOs, are responding through policy advocacy, workplace advice, tools for assessing labour risks and briefings that explain changing requirements. Their work helps connect policy discussions with workplace practice, giving businesses support to understand their responsibilities and contribute their experiences to debates about regulation.

Growing demand is stretching the resources available to deliver that assistance, with 53 per cent of respondents identifying funding as a barrier and 47 per cent pointing to staff capacity. Organizations expected to guide increasingly complex requirements therefore face constraints on the money and people needed to support their members.

Practical ILO support can strengthen the response

Technical expertise ranked first among respondents identifying priorities for future ILO support, accompanied by demand for practical tools, sustained assistance and stronger policy analysis and advocacy. These priorities underline the ILO's role as a strategic partner for employers and their organizations, particularly as businesses seek help translating labour and responsible business expectations into workable decisions.

Strengthening EBMOs' capabilities can give companies better support to put labour standards into practice, respond to market requirements and bring informed proposals to policy discussions. The survey places the organizations' capacity at the centre of that effort, because the quality and availability of their advice matter to businesses navigating a changing trading environment.