Women in developing countries will be the most vulnerable to climate change, a report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has warned. The agency said there was a disproportionate burden on those women and called for greater equality. They do most of the agricultural work, and are therefore affected by weather-related natural disasters impacting [...]
Reforming migration policy will benefit Europe after the recession and address problems posed by ageing populations, according to a new UN report. The 2009 Human Development Report says migration can benefit all concerned – those who move, those in destination countries and those who stay at home. It says there is little connection between migrants [...]
When a major swimwear factory in Bangkok found its sales plummeting in the downturn, it laid off some 1,000 workers, almost all of them women. That did not surprise labor activists who say women are the most vulnerable workers in recessions, especially in low wage industries in developing countries where gender equality lags. “Even before [...]
The electronics sector has up to 5,000 job vacancies for semi-skilled workers in Ayutthaya province alone, the Federation of Thai Industries said Monday. Ayutthaya is home to a well-known cluster of electronics manufacturers and global brands, such as US-based Western Digital (WD), Canon, and Minibea. About half of the province’s total 240,000 industrial workers are [...]
Labour network in Asia, namely, Thai Labour Campaign, Committee for Asian Women, Asia Monitor Resource Center, student activists from Ramkhamheang University, the Solidarity Factory and Triumph International Labour Union submit a letter protesting the attack on labour activists and the human trafficking in Argentina to the embassador of Argentinal at 9 o’clock, July 23, 2009 [...]
The National Wage Committee on Monday resolved not to increase the minimum labour wage this year because the global economic crisis has greatly affected Thailand businesses, labour permanent secretary Somchai Chumrat said. The committee did agree that provincial wage subcommittees should decide by Sept 30 whether to seek an increase in the minimum wage in [...]
As business confidence in Japan sinks to a record low, residents describe how the economic downturn has affected their lives, their jobs and their local area. HIROSHI MASUDA, NAGOYA, 32, AUTOMOTIVE PARTS SUPPLIER “Nagoya city is one of the areas worst hit by the economic crisis in Japan.The district is famous as the base of [...]
A financial crisis has engulfed countries from the best-off to the worst-off around the world. The solutions to the problem are varied. The following is the analysis on ten countries (United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Mexico, Japan, India, Iceland, Germany, China and Brazil) in tackling the financial crisis by their governments. United States GDP -1.6% [...]
Governments pursue emergency strategies to curb unemployment as slowdown bites hard. As Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his government search for ways to tackle mounting job losses and worker protests, they are hardly alone in Asia – the spectre of mass layoffs has become a common theme. As the myth of Asia being decoupled from [...]
