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The worsening unemployment rate in the world is perceived by most people as the primary and most recognizable indicator of the global economic recession. This explains the proliferation and increasing popularity of websites which provide daily news updates on job layoffs. Many unemployed individuals are also documenting their daily struggles by creating blogs.
Unemployment has taught many people to identify the valuable things or persons in their lives. Individuals are learning to appreciate again the support and comfort provided by family and friends. But sometimes unemployment also defeats the spirit. An Egyptian politician blames the high unemployment rate for the phenomenal rise of suicide cases in Egypt.
Because of the deteriorating economy, workers are encountering difficulties finding a stable career in a fundamentally altered job market. A Palestinian worker in Canada echoes this frustration by castigating companies which are “looking for individuals who know everything but are willing to work for almost nothing.”
In Hong Kong a controversial subsidy plan of the government for university graduates has been met with severe criticism. The subsidy plan proposed by the financial secretary allows corporations to pay university graduates as low as HK$4,000 (US$516) per month, half of which is a government subsidy. Several Facebook groups have been created to protest this policy. The most popular group wants the financial secretary to be given a monthly salary of HK$4,000.
There are worries that Japan is already experiencing an "employment ice age" which would create another “lost generation” of young Japanese with no full-time employment. At least 87 companies canceled 331 informal promises of employment to university students last year. More than 500 temporary workers stayed in tent cities last January after losing their jobs.
In Germany many job hunters are forced to work for shorter working hours in exchange for government wage and social-insurance subsidies. Curiously, a Singapore employer has interviewed unemployed investment bankers from London who are seeking work in the city state.
Saudi women who have lost their jobs are faced with limited working opportunities because of sexual harassment in the workplace. Social media tools are being used too for job applications, like Twitter Job Search.
Perhaps the hardest hit by the continuing loss of jobs are poor nations which depend on the remittances sent home by their migrant workers. Today migrant workers are returning back to their countries in large numbers after losing their jobs in the United States and Europe. This reverse migration can be a source of conflict in Third World nations that cannot provide adequate employment and social services to their citizens.
News reports have noted that increasing numbers of overseas Filipino workers, including professionals, are returning home. There are Filipino residents of California who are now moving back to the Philippines after losing their houses and jobs. It is feared that many Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong are being replaced by locals. In my previous column, I mentioned that a Philippine airline has increased its flights in the United States and Canada, which can be interpreted as a sign that more and more retrenched Filipinos are forced to go back to the Philippines.
In the past, Brazilians of Japanese descent were migrating to Japan. Today, “Brazil is the new Japan.” Brazilian immigrants in Japan are returning home because of the crisis. At least 40,000 Brazilian immigrants are planning to leave Japan. Japanese media have reported that many Brazilians have been living in the streets of Japan since the financial crisis erupted a few months ago.
According to the International Labor Organization, the Middle East and North Africa region recorded the highest unemployment rates in 2008. One of the worst affected by the crisis is Dubai. Dubai’s population is expected to decrease by 8 percent this year as foreign workers continue to leave the city; one blogger contends that Dubai’s population will decrease by as much as 25 percent.
Schools in Dubai are receiving numerous applications for school transfer certificates as children of foreign workers return to their home countries. One school lost 10 percent of its Indian student population.
Except for Bhutan and Maldives, all countries in South Asia depend on remittances sent by their migrant workers. Economists are alarmed by the disturbing trend of migrant workers who are suddenly returning home in South Asia, especially in India and Bangladesh. As Malaysia prefers to give jobs to locals, it cancelled thousands of visas it had approved earlier for Bangladesh migrant workers. The number of workers leaving Nepal has also decreased.
Governments should present creative and effective stimulus programs if they want to preserve the social order. In China about 6,000 workers in Baoding, in Hebei province, went on strike as their factory was sold and they would be soon be out of jobs. Thousands of them are going to Beijing to present a petition about their rights. There are worries that their action might snowball into a disruptive political activity.
In Egypt a wave of strikes has erupted in the last three months. The culture of strikes, even among the non-politicized segments of the working population, has been reintroduced in the country.
If unemployment continues to worsen, the Chinese and Egyptian models of protest could haunt every ruling party in the world.
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(Mong Palatino is an activist and regional editor for Southeast Asia of Global Voices Online. He can be reached at mongpalatino@gmail.com and his website is www.mongpalatino.motime.com. ©Copyright Mong Palatino.)
