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    Development Asia—The Hunt for Jobs: August 2009
    Development Asia—The Hunt for Jobs: August 2009
    Development Asia—The Hunt for Jobs: August 2009
    Ebook161 pages1 hour

    Development Asia—The Hunt for Jobs: August 2009

    By Asian Development Bank

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    About this ebook

    While economists and government officials assess the impact of the global economic downturn on Asia, millions of laid-off workers and recent college graduates face the real guesswork of figuring out how they are going to make a living. Indeed, lines of job seekers are lengthening across Asia, as the global crisis causes export markets to shrink and the high-flying, export-driven economies that feed them to skid. This edition of Development Asia examines the impact of the global economic crisis on Asia's labor markets, starting with an overview from William Branigin, a journalist for The Washington Post and the newspaper's former Southeast Asia bureau chief for more than a decade. More than the resolve of individuals, the crisis is testing the ability of nations and multilateral organizations to improve living standards across the continent. This issue goes on to follow the unemployed into the informal sector—the legion of street vendors, pedicab drivers and other largely unregulated workers who account for upwards of 50% of the economic activity in some countries. For years, this group has acted as a social safety net for the unemployed in Asia: people traditionally took to the streets to earn when they lost their more formal jobs or to earn more for their families during off hours. Bangkok-based journalist Karen Emmons finds this tradition coming under strain in the current crisis. In other stories, Bronwyn Curran, a journalist with extensive experience reporting from Pakistan, examines the link between political instability and high unemployment rates among young men. Meanwhile, writer James Hutchison visits the garment factory district to find women workers particularly hard-hit by the global economic downturn, and Bruce Heilbuth documents the suffering of the millions in Asia who rely on remittances—payments sent home by relatives working overseas—as those sums shrink. In stride with the special report on labor and employment in Asia, this issue looks at innovative trends in development: a program started in Latin America, now replicated globally, offers conditional payments to poor families if they educate their daughters, or vaccinate their children, or do other specific tasks. These conditional cash transfers, as they are called, are controversial in some quarters, but they have produced impressive results. This issue also explores the issue of private schools for the poor. Long a privilege of the wealthy and middle class, an increasing number of nongovernment schools serving poor children can be found around Asia. In our From the Field section, New Delhi-based writer Neeta Lal talks to Bindeshwar Pathak, the curator of a toilet museum. The interesting and humorous museum highlights Mr. Pathak's pioneering work in sanitation for the poor in India.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAsian Development Bank
    Release dateAug 1, 2009
    ISBN9789292574246
    Development Asia—The Hunt for Jobs: August 2009

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      Book preview

      Development Asia—The Hunt for Jobs - Asian Development Bank

      ROUNDUP

      Thai Kids Going to Money Camp

      A business newspaper in Bangkok is teaching children what adults have learned from the global financial crisis.

      Krungthep Turakij (Bangkok Business News), a daily Thai-language newspaper owned by the Nation Multimedia Group, organized a financial camp for children in June that provided them with a basic understanding of economics and taught them how to be financially smart and independent. Sponsored by Siam Cement Group, the 2-day Happy Kid Money Camp at Chulalongkorn University was offered free to children, ages 10–12. Participants were selected based on the written essay or video clip they submitted before the activity.

      In an article published in The Nation website, Duangkamol Chotana, executive editor of Krungthep Turakij, said the global crisis motivated the business newspaper to organize the camp.

      Test of Economic Resilience

      Countries from Northern Europe and Southeast Asia scored high in the stress test conducted by the International Institute for Management Development, the Switzerland-based business school that publishes the annual World Competitiveness Yearbook.

      The Stress Test on Competitiveness provides an analysis of which countries are better equipped to survive the global financial crisis and improve their competitiveness in the near future. The test focuses on exposure, readiness, and resilience during a world recession. It is a new feature of the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009.

      Denmark finished first in the stress test, followed by Singapore. The United States came in 28th place in the stress test but finished first as the most competitive country in the overall 2009

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