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.