In the Asia-Pacific region, employment and underemployment are issues that have recently been subject to renewed focus. Official comments reveal that a different attitude towards employment is emerging. As Jongchai Thiengtham, the Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare in Thailand notes: "In the wake of Asia's crisis, employment is likely viewed as a priority in its own right rather than as an automatic outcome of economic growth as in the past."

The financial crisis in Asia destabilized the lives of millions and reduced the prospects for growth in this region of the world. Countries such as Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand were the hardest hit as their unemployment rates soared. The number of unemployed persons increased by 0.3 million in Malaysia, 0.5 million in Thailand, 1 million in Indonesia, and 1.5 million in the Republic of Korea. Real wages also declined. For instance, the average wage in Korea fell by nearly 10% following April 1997.

The financial crisis has had an even larger effect on marginal groups. For instance, in the Republic of Korea, women, youth and unskilled workers were among the greatest impacted. Employment declined by 7.1% among women between April 1997 and April 1998 compared with 3.8% for men. The number of unemployed among those aged 15-29 doubled in 1997-98, from 300,000 to 600,0000 and it tripled for the unskilled, rising from 1.7% to 5.4%. Migrant workers were considered another at-risk population, for many were forced to return home in the wake of the economic turmoil.

Employment received top billing at a recent meeting of 12 Asia-Pacific countries to review their commitments made in Copenhagen at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development. This Asian-Pacific meeting, held in Bangkok, also provided useful courses of action to help alleviate some of the current employment issues plaguing the region. Highlights included the following suggestions:

• Making sustainable employment a key objective for development policy
• Strengthening employers' and workers' organizations so that these groups can play a stronger role in designing labour, social and economic policies
• Stronger investments in education, training and multi-skilling in line with market demands
• Encouraging government, employers and workers to work together to achieve broad based sustainable growth
• Building stronger social safety nets to provide basic protection
• Supporting vulnerable groups including children, youth, and migrant workers
• Improving the quality of labour market information
• Implementing self-employment programmes
• Increasing womens' access to training, safety nets and representation in workers organizations and tri- patriate bodies to overcome gender based discrimination in the labour market

While these are by no means small tasks for the Asian-Pacific countries to implement, it is clear that dealing with employment issues is an area that can not be overlooked as we move into the new millenium. Studies of past economic crises indicate that unemployment persists long after subsidies and exchange rates are restored. Since people take far longer to recover than economies, employment will undoubtedly remain a top priority for the near future and continuing to be well equipped with innovative strategies such as those previously listed will be key.

© 1997-2001 United Nations ESCAP.