By Ron Corben for Radio Australia
The global economic downturn is imposing a huge burden on the poor of Asia and women workers are suffering most.
Asia's boom over recent decades lured millions of men and women from rural areas to work in urban industries producing garments, vehicles, electronics and other goods destined in many cases for western markets.
But as export orders have plummeted, industries have cut back working hours and pay, with millions of people forecast to be laid off throughout the region.
Lucia Victor Jayaseelan, executive coordinator for the Thailand-based Committee for Asian Women, says the crisis has had a profound impact on women workers.
"The crisis has hit export-oriented industries, like the manufacturing sector, the garment industry, the hotel and service industry, the tourist industry," she said.
"These are all heavily labour intensive and heavily (female); 80 per cent are women workers.
"[Many of them] are also migrant workers so if the market has dwindled or reduced or gone away, then it will be the women that will suffer."
Many of the women who migrated from rural areas to urban centres across Asia in the good times were low-skilled but their employment played a key role in boosting family incomes and education chances for their children.
UN assessment
In its latest assessment, the United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO) forecasts a rise of up to 26 million people unemployed across Asia Pacific in 2009.
Such an increase would lift the total number of unemployed in the region to more than 110 million.
The numbers of people occupied in "vulnerable" or informal employment - offering almost no security - could increase by 52 million to more than one billion people.
Senior ILO economist Gyorgy Sziraczki says if those losing export-related jobs do not go back to the countryside, one option is "very risky jobs".
"Some of them might end up in the entertainment sector, which might involve the spread of AIDS," he said.
Asian governments have traditionally spent a smaller proportion of national output on social protection programs than other regions, including Africa.
Mr Sziraczki says if the crisis is really long there is a danger social tensions might rise in the future due to the lack of social protection and safety nets.
Asia's boom over recent decades lured millions of men and women from rural areas to work in urban industries producing garments, vehicles, electronics and other goods destined in many cases for western markets.
But as export orders have plummeted, industries have cut back working hours and pay, with millions of people forecast to be laid off throughout the region.
Lucia Victor Jayaseelan, executive coordinator for the Thailand-based Committee for Asian Women, says the crisis has had a profound impact on women workers.
"The crisis has hit export-oriented industries, like the manufacturing sector, the garment industry, the hotel and service industry, the tourist industry," she said.
"These are all heavily labour intensive and heavily (female); 80 per cent are women workers.
"[Many of them] are also migrant workers so if the market has dwindled or reduced or gone away, then it will be the women that will suffer."
Many of the women who migrated from rural areas to urban centres across Asia in the good times were low-skilled but their employment played a key role in boosting family incomes and education chances for their children.
UN assessment
In its latest assessment, the United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO) forecasts a rise of up to 26 million people unemployed across Asia Pacific in 2009.
Such an increase would lift the total number of unemployed in the region to more than 110 million.
The numbers of people occupied in "vulnerable" or informal employment - offering almost no security - could increase by 52 million to more than one billion people.
Senior ILO economist Gyorgy Sziraczki says if those losing export-related jobs do not go back to the countryside, one option is "very risky jobs".
"Some of them might end up in the entertainment sector, which might involve the spread of AIDS," he said.
Asian governments have traditionally spent a smaller proportion of national output on social protection programs than other regions, including Africa.
Mr Sziraczki says if the crisis is really long there is a danger social tensions might rise in the future due to the lack of social protection and safety nets.
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