In 2006, there were 900 million people in the region working for $2 a day, or 51.9 percent of the employed, down from 68.5 percent in 1996. More than 300 million people had income of only $1 a day, the report showed.
It was unlikely there would be a rapid drop in the number of people working in the informal economy, now 61.9 percent, the report said.
The report is called "Visions for Asia's Decent Work Decade: Sustainable Growth and Jobs to 2015" and will be discussed at an ILO meeting of senior government, labour and employer officials from some 20 countries in Asia and the Pacific.
The report surveyed developed economies in the region -- Japan, Australia and New Zealand -- as well as the regions east Asia, southeast Asia and the Pacific, and south Asia.
