Family networks not enough

Family networks not enough

YANGON (AFP): Asia's close family networks can no longer absorb unemployment brought on by crises like the 1997 economic crash, heightening the need for social safety nets, a senior ASEAN official said on Friday.

Rodolfo Severino, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the regional crisis had pushed Asian governments into fast-tracking social safety nets to help the unemployed.

Such welfare schemes, as well as training and improving statistical analysis to better understand labor problems, were top priorities for ASEAN labor ministers as they gathered for a conference here, he said.

Most members of ASEAN have limited or no unemployment benefit schemes, at a time when regional economies are only just starting to show signs of recovery from almost two years of economic turmoil.