Unemployment is expected to rise in Asia next year as the rest of the world reels from the impact of the global financial crisis.

Already, migrant jobseekers in China are facing uncertainties about their prospects while Indonesia estimates that about one million could lose their jobs in 2009 as many industries cut jobs due to weak revenues. In South Korea, public firms are also reducing jobs with at least 19,000 facing the ax.

A sense of uncertainty is growing among jobseekers in China faces a worsening employment situation, experts said last week.

"There is a strong sense of insecurity among migrant workers, college graduates and even white-collar workers amid the global financial crisis," Guo Weiqing, a professor of public administration at Guangzhou's Sun Yat-sen University, told China Daily.

Tens of thousands of migrant workers have lost their jobs in Guangdong province with the closure of factories hit by the crisis.

"It's like an epidemic and everyone is now worried about their jobs," Guo said.

According to the latest survey from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security this week, 4.85 million jobless migrant workers had returned to their hometowns by the end of November, and nationwide, more than 10 million of migrants are currently out of work.

Around 670,000 small firms have closed this year as a result of the global financial crisis, adding to employment pressures, State Council advisor Chen Quansheng told a forum in Beijing on Friday.

About 6.7 million jobs vanished, many in the export hub of Guangdong, pushing unemployment well above the official figure of 8.3 million, Chen said.

"The real figure is much higher than the official statistics, which only report urban registered jobless," he said.

"The major problem in China now is employment, especially for university graduates and young migrant workers," Chen said.

An increasing number of graduates will face a more difficult situation next year. The unemployment rate for new graduates is over 12 percent and 1.5 million of them will be without a job by the end of this year, while 6.1 million more will enter the job market next year, a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences report said.

"Facing such a tough time, young migrant workers and students can easily get emotional or hotheaded and may become a potential threat to social stability," Guo warned.

Li Wei, a CASS researcher on social development, suggested that more social security measures should be introduced to ensure the basic living standards of the jobless.

He also said the NGOs can play a more active role in social relief and vocational training programs.

Massive job cuts

In Indonesia, many industries are resorting to production cuts amid weakened demand, hurting their revenue and layoffs next year could reach far more than 1.5 million, business associations are warning.

In addition to estimated dismissals of up to 150,000 workers in the textiles and garments industry next year, as predicted by its association, the footwear as well as food and beverage industries will also be hit hard by lower demand, forcing them to reduce production, which could lead to layoffs.

Eddy Widjanarko, chairman of the Indonesian Footwear Association (Aprisindo), said the industry would see nearly 10,000 layoffs by the end of 2008 and another 30,000 next year.

The footwear industry generated US$1.6 billion from exports in 2007, with $1.7 billion targeted this year.

Franky Sibarani, regulation division head of the Indonesian Food and Beverage Association (Gapmmi), said small and micro food and beverage producers, who worked only based on orders, would be the most severely hit by the crisis.

However, the largest number of layoffs will likely come from the construction sector, amounting to around 1.5 million, according to Sofjan Wanandi, chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo).

"The government should start its infrastructure projects, including the development of roads, electricity, piped water and irrigations, as early as Jan. 1."

The government estimates about $65 billion will be needed in new infrastructure investment in the next three years.

Phasing-out process

In South Korea, the government said yesterday (December 21) it will cut 19,000 jobs at 69 public firms in the fourth stage of its public sector reform program.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said the job cuts will be carried out gradually through a natural phasing-out process and voluntary retirement over three to four years, given the current grim economic situation and bleak job market.

"As we strive to improve public sector efficiency, 19,000, or more than 10 percent of jobs, will be reduced out of the 150,000 jobs (at 69 firms)," Vice Finance Minister Bae Kook-hwan told reporters in Gwacheon.

The ministry's restructuring program came two days after President Lee Myung-bak on Friday called for a strong restructuring drive for both public and private sectors to ward off a worse economic situation.

Since his inauguration in February, Lee has been pushing to overhaul government-owned enterprises, which have been criticized for negligent management and waste of taxpayer money.

According to the detailed restructuring plan, a workforce reduction will be the largest at the Korea Railroad Corp., which has to reduce 5,115 jobs or 15.9 percent of its workforce. The Korea Electric Power Corp. needs to get rid of 2,420 jobs. At the 69 firms, the job cut rate ranges from 10 to 37.5 percent, depending on the size of the unnecessary functions at those firms, officials said.

Bae emphasized that the government does not intend to focus only on layoffs, adding that about half of the reduced jobs that are naturally phased out will be covered by new recruits as well. Also, firms can use a job-sharing program in which colleagues help retain their co-workers' jobs through accepting pay cuts, he said.

To better use taxpayer money, the government said it would sell 8.5 trillion won-worth ($6.5 billion) of unnecessary assets at some state-run firms, including KORAIL. Out of the 8.5 trillion won, 7.6 trillion won would come from the selling of KORAIL's property in Yongsan, Bae said.

The restructuring and the selling of the public assets will save a total of 10.2 trillion won of state money, ministry officials said.

Out of the 305 public firms in Korea, five public firms are scheduled to be shut down and 22 privatized, according to the government's previously-announced public reform measures.

All the remaining 278 firms are also subject to restructuring or streamlining, but the government announced job cuts at 69 firms first, as those firms had already agreed with labor unions, officials said.

However, the restructuring plan may receive strong resistance from labor unions.

Woo Moon-sook, spokesperson of the major umbrella union the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, criticized the government's privatization plan, saying the ministry had failed to reach a consensus with the labor union before announcing the plan.

"They didn't reach an agreement with us," she said, adding that the labor union group will prepare action plans to oppose the restructuring.

In January next year, the government will announce another job reduction plan and a desired ratio of executives at public firms, as well as job-sharing methods, government officials said.

Reports by Tan Yingzi, China Daily/ By Mustaqim Adamrah, Multa Firdaus and Nana Rukmana in Jakarta, The Jakarta Post/ and Kim Yoon-mi, The Korea Herald