Layoffs loom over ASEAN meeting

Layoffs loom over ASEAN meeting

HANOI (Reuters): ASEAN labor ministers meet in Vietnam on Wednesday with some facing soaring unemployment back home and tension over migrant workers as Southeast Asia's economic crisis bites deeper.

The ministry of labor in Hanoi said the impact from Asia's slump would be on the agenda of the two-day meeting.

Worker layoffs have loomed over governments and dominated talk in boardrooms across Asia for months now, but one political analyst said the worst was yet to come.

Bob Broadfoot, managing director of the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Hong Kong, said nations hit by the crisis were only starting to see the fallout on employment.