SOUTHEAST ASIAN BLOGGERS NETWORK

Friday, December 28, 2007

SOUTHEAST ASIA’S UNEMPLOYMENT RATES

One of the biggest problems in our region is unemployment. Southeast Asia is a dynamic economic bloc with high hopes of advancing at least next to China. We even compromise our environment to give way to production lines, factories, power plants just to create more jobs for the majority.

We are 10% of the world population – more than 568 million strong! But how many of us are unemployed? Here are the figures of the 11 Southeast Asian countries with percentage of the population without jobs.

Here...

Vietnam 2%

Thailand 2.1%

Laos 2.4%

Cambodia 2.5%

Singapore 2.7%

Malaysia 3.5%

Brunei 4%

Philippines 7.9%

Burma 10.2%

Indonesia 12.5%


Three (3) of our neighboring countries belong to the Top 20 Most Populous Countries in the world – Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. But what is Vietnam (with only 2% unemployment rate) doing that Indonesia and the Philippines can’t?


Wait a sec...don't feel bad. Let's continue the list and have a little fun...

United States 4.8%
European Union 8.5% *OMG!*
United Kingdom 5.4%

France 8.7%
Belgium 8.10%
Germany 7.1%

Hilarious? You bet it is!
These are the countries that police the world.

****


***All of the figures are 2006 estimates except Laos (2005), Brunei (2004) and Cambodia (2000).

12 Comments:

Anonymous said...

LOTS of works are actually available, we're so damn lazy.

Anonymous said...

others dont want to work...

Jake said...

@Pisanu...dude, are you part of Thailand's 2.1%? (lols)

Anonymous said...

Pisanu,

Well, at first glance we have to ask how accurate are these numbers?

What is "unemployment?" If someone works in a rice patty and has never left the village then are they included in the "employed" percentage? Is someone who works to just maintain a basic need of food truthfully "employed?"

Then the next question we have to ask is whether "unemployment" or rather "underemployment" are the real issues for these countries.

How many people who have law degrees in a country are actually lawyers and how many are actually para legals or policemen?

How many computer science graduates does a country have working in call centers?

Thats "underemployment!"

Then you can get into the issue of how many people in a country are employed by the military, the police, and or the government?

There usually is a direct correlation because number of military, police, and or government employees and the amount of corruption in a society.

When I traveled I always determined the development of a society by how many people I had to deal with to cash a certain amount of American Express Travelers Checks. For Example, in Nepal it took 17 people in one bank to endorse my travelers checks before I could cash them. In Singapore it took 2.

Jerick said...

i guess it depends on how your country defines "employment".

Pisanu for BISEAN said...

THIS IS THE MAIN REASON why we cannot solve this problem -- DENIAL. We keep denying this problem exists. We just wanted to look good for other countries.

Don't bark at me. This are figures from your OWN governments. PEOPLE WHO WOULD LIKE TO WORK BUT UNABLE TO DO SO. That's unemployment.

C'MON! Let's not lie to ourselves. It's the new year and we dang know there are too many people in our countries unemployed.

@ Jake...I am not unemployed. I have 235 people working for me around the world. My contribution.

Happy New Year to all.

Pisanu for BISEAN said...

AND...nobody even noticed why is there only 10 on the list when it says 11 SE Asian countries...

Timor Leste has 50% unemployment rate.

If I buy a beach resort in Dili...will all of you come to visit? =)

Anonymous said...

Pisanu...

I am doing my part...I have six Burmese refugees working for me right this minute!

One of the mistakes that people make is falling into the trap of beleiving that if people wanted to work they could find work...

That is like belieivng that all governments and all economic systems actually want full employment..

Which isn't true...full employment means that then employees could have power to demand better wages...

I just had to deal with New Years...and I just told them that one year could only be "new" once....so we would celebrate the "New Year" one time and I let them pick which "New Years" we would celebrate!

So...Happy New Years!

Jake said...

@Pisanu...Man, I'd like to go and visit! Hehehe...235...whoa! you're a giant. I only have two people in mt staff! (*wink-wink)

@Tao...gee you're damn right. Most of my collegaues don't do lawyering. After earning their degrees, they still WORK by ending up as housewives, mothers, businessmen and even movie actors!

chase / chubz said...

EU has higher Unemployment than the philippines? hmm... i kinda get it.

EU people don't want to work as skilled professionals.. So EU has to outsource and hire OFWs.
read it in TIME.. heheh

Anonymous said...

It just confusing to me.

If the unemployment rate is high because there are "no" jobs, then why are the classified pages of major broadsheets and online job listing sites are always packed every single day? Jobs never seem to run out!

One major factor why a lot of people are unemployed is because of the qualification standards of companies. There may be plenty of jobs out there but the manpower is inequipped. Unqualified.

It's trully up to the people to help themselves. Know the skills you need to land your dream job. Learn and gain experience. Educate yourself. Be "qualified" and get
hired!

Sitting on the couch and waiting for a job to land on your lap is no the way to go buddy.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm very disappointed in the Philippines' results but it is true.. I think it's because many of us Filipinos are depending on our government. They always think that even though they do not work, the government will give them ALL their needs. So, instead of finding a job, they always put their lazy a*ses into couches. And I think, that is one of the reason why the Philippines got that result..

I'm very disappointed.
(P.S. I shouldn't comment here because I'm only 15 y.o.)

-boii

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