The region has been unable to match the success of the Yangtze and Pearl River deltas in attracting investment in low-technology, labour-intensive private industry.

ECONOMIST: The other China

In high income countries, physical activity dwindles as people use more technology and are less engaged in labour-intensive work.

BBC: The myth of the physically unfit Indian

With most of the work done by hand without any help from modern technology, its production is a lengthy and labour-intensive process.

BBC: The gateway to Kilimanjaro

It has happened because rich-world companies have replaced workers with new technology to boost productivity and shifted production from labour-intensive products such as textiles to higher-tech, higher value-added, sectors such as pharmaceuticals.

ECONOMIST: Economics

Investing in green measures and green technology is actually good for the economy because a green economy is an incredibly labour intensive economy.

BBC: Green Party leader calls for thriving green economy

The most fundamental one remains the Baumol effect: labour-intensive services, such as nursing and teaching, have thus far proved as immune to productivity-enhancing technology as string quartets.

ECONOMIST: The gods that have failed��so far