20 Million Lost Jobs in China

While many seem to think that the economy slowdown is not affecting China much, do think twice. Based on this estimation by China's Ministry of Agriculture, about 20 Million China's migrant workers from rural areas who go to cities in China to work, have suffered job loss recently due to the global financial crisis.

This is definitely significant, as 20 Million is about double Malaysia's workforce.

This news is quoted from Xinhuanet.com

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BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- About 20 million of China's migrant workers have returned home after losing their jobs as the global financial crisis takes a toll on the economy, said a senior official here on Monday.

Chen Xiwen, director of the office of the central leading group on rural work, said about 15.3 percent of the 130 million migrant workers had returned jobless from cities to the countryside.

The figures were based on a survey by the Ministry of Agriculture in 150 villages in 15 provinces, carried out before the week-long Lunar New Year holiday which began on Jan. 25.

His remarks came a day after the central government issued its first document this year, which warned 2009 will be "possibly the toughest year" since the turn of the century in terms of securing economic development and consolidating the "sound development momentum" in agriculture and rural areas.

The country's economic growth slowed to 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, dragging down the annual rate to a seven-year low of 9 percent.

The document urged local and central government departments to adopt measures to create jobs and increase rural incomes.

Companies were asked to take on more social responsibilities and give rural migrant workers more favorable employment treatment. Flexible employment policies and more training chances were also encouraged.

Meanwhile, local government departments should increase investment to provide favorable tax and fee policies to those who lost jobs in cities and expect to find new work in their hometowns.

The government also urged departments to map out basic pension insurance measures suitable for rural conditions and migrant workers to ensure their rights.

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Job Market in Malaysia

Today, New Straits Times carried a few articles that is related to job market.

Read here and here .

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KUALA LUMPUR: Unemployment in Malaysia could reach six per cent this year, its highest in more than 20 years, as the economy slows down significantly, economist Datuk Dr Zainal Aznam Yusof said.
But as the economy picks up again, unemployment will fall to four to five per cent in 2010.

The government expects the economy to grow by 3.5 per cent this year, from a targeted 6-6.5 per cent growth last year.

Zainal Aznam believes that the country's gross domestic product would likely experience a severe slowdown to two per cent this year.

"It is a shock to the system and the brunt is on employment."
Malaysia has a working population of 11 million. A six per cent rate translates into 660,000 unemployed people.

"We should brace for a large overhang of unemployed, especially when the graduates enter the job market."

Zainal Aznam, who is a member of the high-level National Economic Council, said retrenchment was anticipated across all sectors of the economy although the bulk would be in export-oriented industries.

"So far, the (monthly) retrenchment is not huge yet, but it is going up," he said.

Most of the laid-off workers in the construction and plantation sectors are expected to be foreigners, while it is the other way around in the services and manufacturing sectors.

The services sector, which is likely to recover fastest from the global slowdown, is expected to cushion the economic slowdown as it provides jobs.

The sub-sectors with potential include financial, tourism, education, health, information communication technology, professional services, construction-related services and manufacturing-related services.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam has said that more than 45,000 factory workers could be temporarily laid off during the Chinese New year period due to a drop in orders.

They have been asked to take paid or unpaid leave for two or three weeks during the festive period.

Human Resources Ministry statistics show that 7,500 workers were laid off between October last year and Jan 14. The number included 2,000 foreigners in various sectors.

Most of the retrenchment was in the manufacturing sector involving local manufacturers and foreign multinationals.

The official unemployment rate for last year is not out yet, but the ministry has said that the number of retrenched workers should be around the previous year's 30,000.

A total of 102 employers had reported to the ministry that they would lay off 4,700 workers between this month and March.

The majority of these workers are in the electrical and electronics sector.

This includes 1,500 Western Digital workers who will be made redundant when the hard-drive disc manufacturer winds down its Sarawak plant by March.

Ministry secretary-general Thomas George, who chairs a committee set up to monitor retrenchment in view of the global slowdown, said retrenchment was at a manageable level.

"It is consistent with the global trend of having leaner and more productive organisations," he said earlier this month.

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KUALA LUMPUR: A three-day week may be on the cards for companies and factories if workers and employers agree to shorten operations, Labour director-general Datuk Ismail Abdul Rahim said yesterday.
He said the government's main concern was to ensure minimal job loss and for companies to continue operating.

He said it was necessary for employers to get the consent of workers, who would be paid less if they worked fewer days.

"It is the duty of the department to ensure that workers are adequately protected and, at the same time, companies do not lose out."

He felt that it would be ideal if employers, workers and unions worked together for the good of the nation.
The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) is of the view that it is better for workers to take a temporary pay cut than to lose their jobs.

"As employers, we do not want to lose our employees and will do our best to retain as many as possible," MEF executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said.

"However, economic conditions are such that we sometimes have no choice but to cut back on employment to keep afloat ."

Since Jan 1, about 10,000 workers had lost their jobs, with more expected to face the axe if the economic situation did not change for the better, he said.

He added that although the United States and Europe were the worst affected by the global crisis, Malaysia would not be spared either as it was a major trading nation and depended a lot on exports to these markets.

The government had proposed that retrenched workers be paid RM500 monthly while waiting for a new job.

They may also be retrained to acquire new skills or improve on existing skills.

However, according to Ismail, the mechanics of the payment and training was still being worked out.

The Malaysian Trades Union Congress has pledged to cooperate with the government and employers to ride out the difficult times.

Its secretary-general, G. Rajasegaran, said all affiliates had been informed to extend their cooperation and maintain industrial harmony.

Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Noraini Ahmad advised workers facing retrenchment or whose companies were folding up to contact the ministry for assistance.

She said the Labour Department would place the names of the affected workers in its Workers Mini Carnival programme.

"We will retrain workers who have been retrenched and give them RM500 each for the duration of their training," she said. -- Bernama


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76,000 Lose Their Jobs in a Day

76,000 people lose their job in a day. This marks one of the worst day of this recession.

Quoting this from Financial Times

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Corporate bellwethers in the US and Europe slashed more than 76,000 jobs from their payrolls to confront the deepening economic downturn, marking one of the most brutal days yet for workers on both sides of the Atlantic.

US corporate groups such as Caterpillar, General Motors, Sprint Nextel and Home Depot led the retreat, as the domestic recession coupled with tough export markets continued to take a heavy toll on their businesses. Pfizer, the drugs group, added to the tally saying jobs would be lost in its takeover of Wyeth.

Large European companies such as Philips, the Dutch electronics company, financial group ING and the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus, which is owned by India's Tata Group, struck the same downbeat tone as they unveiled plans to axe staff.

In many cases, the cutbacks accompanied disappointing quarterly results or bleak outlooks for 2009, when many of the world's largest economies are expected to be hit by severe downturns.

Raymond Torres, head of the International Labour Organisation's research institute, said employers were shedding workers far more quickly in this recession than in the early 1990s.

"We have a vicious circle of depression, where job losses lead to falling consumption, which lowers industrial confidence, which leads to less investment, which results in more job losses, and so on," he said.

Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of construction equipment, said it would cut 20,000 jobs as it reported fourth-quarter profits more than 32 per cent lower than a year ago and warned earnings would be under pressure in 2009. The news comes a month after the US group slashed executive salaries by up to half and cut jobs at large plants.

Sprint Nextel, the US mobile-phone operator, is to cut 8,000 jobs, or 14 per cent of its workforce, while DIY retailer Home Depot is shedding 7,000 posts and freezing salaries as it battles a consumer slowdown in the US.

Pfizer said 19,500 people would lose their jobs after its takeover of US rival Wyeth, while General Motors, the troubled carmaker, announced 2,000 job losses at two plants in Michigan. After the US markets closed, chipmaker Texas Instruments eliminated 3,400 positions. The news in the US came after ING said it would axe 7,000 of its 130,000 global staff and Philips announced the loss of 6,000 jobs as it accelerated restructuring plans.

Corus, Britain's largest steelmaker, announced cuts of 3,500 from its global workforce of 41,000, with more than 2,000 jobs to go in the UK where it employs 20,000.

Reporting by Justin Baer and Francesco Guerrera in New York, Andrew Ward in Washington, Hal Weitzman in Chicago, Richard Milne in London and Frances Williams in Geneva

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JobStreet.com Staff at Jalan Sultan Ismail

Yesterday, JobStreet.com staff went on "road" at Jalan Sultan Ismail yesterday. After the official launching of JobStreet.com Retrenchment Helpline which has attracted the "seek of help" by 4,300 retrenched Malaysians (or those who are in the brink of being retrenched), JobStreet.com staff took time off to wish the road travellers "Gong Xi Fa Cai"!

Armed with StreetSmart Guide and Job Outlook Q1 2009 for Malaysia , JobStreet.com staff distributed those to more than 400 cars that are stuck in the traffic jam!

JobStreet.com staff also carried placards showing "More than 10,000 available at JobStreet.com", "Gong Xi Fa Cai without worries"!

Some of the photos taken are as follow:-







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JobStreet.com Retrenchment Helpline Officially Launched

Yesterday, 23rd January 2009, JobStreet.com officially launched its JobStreet Retrenchment Helpline . This is part of JobStreet Cares initiative, which would help Malaysians who are affected by this recession, to get back into employment as soon as possible.

Words of mouth of this launch got spreaded 3 days before the official launch, and more than 4,300 job seekers submitted their resume! This shows that a lot of Malaysians do get affected and am sure the number that would get affected would be much higher.

Please help to spread the words of this site, as your little effort might be able to help your friends in need. Having an extra help by JobStreet.com to specifically target to help those job seekers who are retrenched would be able to help them to come out from the doom days of being retrenched. Do sign up for JobStreet Retrenchment Helpline !

Below is the official press relase by JobStreet.com, the largest recruitment site in South East Asia.

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"JobStreet.com has currently launched the JobStreet Retrenchment Helpline service which is aimed at lending a helping hand to those who might be feeling the effects of the recent retrenchments due to the global economic slowdown.

This initiative is born based on JobStreet’s observations on the market situation in Malaysia and around this region. JobStreet has been actively monitoring the current recruitment industry and based on our findings, we have decided to set up the Retrenchment Helpline Service as a pre-emptive measure aimed at protecting the welfare of Malaysian jobseekers.

The JobStreet Retrenchment Helpline is free-of-charge as we want to make the service available to as many people as possible. All they need to do is register, upload their resume and JobStreet’s team of career professionals will categorize them based on their industries. The JobStreet team will also contact the jobseekers who use this service, to further find out what are the core competencies and marketable skills. This is to enable JobStreet to recommend jobs for them.

In line with providing solutions to Malaysian jobseekers in times of economic slowdown, JobStreet will also intensify Resume & Career Clinics. This is an initiative which helps jobseekers write better resumes, gain better understanding of the job market and sharpen their job hunting skills. JobStreet will run Resume & Career Clinic tours in campuses and also on-site in companies.

Jobseekers can also look forward to more career fairs that will cater to a wide range of jobseekers from different backgrounds and needs. JobStreet will also seek to conduct more market surveys, run more career makeover seminars and maintain a close working relationship with the government and HR industries so that together we will be able to provide an efficient recruitment solution for all jobseekers both in good times and difficult times."

About JobStreet.com

JobStreet operates the JobStreet.com (www.jobstreet.com) online recruitment websites presently covering the employment markets in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Japan. The Group currently services over 50,000 corporate customers and over 5 million jobseekers. JobStreet is listed on Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities (JOBST).

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Business Times also covered the press conference yesterday.

Its write-up is as follow here

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JOBSTREET.COM (0058) said there were fewer jobs advertised on its online job posting service since the start of the year, suggesting a cautious employment market.

The company, which earns a fee from companies that advertise on its website, said the manufacturing sector seems to be the hardest hit.

Citing the company's Job Outlook Report for the first quarter of 2009, chief operating officer Suresh Thiru said the overall job outlook confidence is challenging.

He said companies will hire fewer new workers in the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year.
From a random selection of about 1,700 JobStreet.com clients that were polled last December, 56 per cent said they would employ fewer in the first quarter of this year.

Only 14 per cent of them said that they would hire more new people in the first quarter compared with 55 per cent in the same period last year.

About 30 per cent said that their hirings would remain more or less the same.

Suresh said if the jobs market continues to worsen, there will be an impact on the company's revenue.

Meanwhile, the company has launched a new service in anticipation of the deteriorating employment market targeted at retrenched workers.

"The JobStreet.com Retrenchment Helpline service is aimed at lending a helping hand to those who might be affected by the recent retrenchment brought about by the global economic slowdown," said its general manager Eric Sito.

He said the helpline is a pre-emptive measure aimed at protecting Malaysian job seekers.

Since the service was posted on its website three days ago, JobStreet.com has received some 4,300 resumes.

During this economic slowdown, the company will intensify its Resume and Career Clinics to help job seekers write better resumes, gain better understanding of the job market and sharpen their job hunting skills.

"This will increase their employability rate in the market," Sito said.

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Minister of Human Resources' Response to MEF

I posted this note on 200,000 to 400,000 would lose their jobs, as predicted by Malaysia Employers Federation (MEF) here .

Vicks has updated me here with the response from Minister of Human Resources. It is here

For all who are affected by retrenchment, do check out JobStreet Retrenchment Helpline

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Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

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JobStreet.com Retrenchment Helpline launched

Almost everyday, we hear of negative news around the world, be it growth rate forecast is reduced, profit/revenue below expectation, or retrenchment.

Financial sector and manufacturing sector are the worst hit. The high tech sector is affected too. CNET has a page that lists all the layoffs in the tech world, and it is scary to see so. Check it out here .

Among those companies that have laid off include Motorola, Oracle, Seagate, Dell, Lenovo, One Laptop Per Child, AMD, Unisys, Electronic Arts, Western Digital, Yahoo!, Sony, AT&T, Adobe, Palm, Sun, LinkedIn, Nokia, Freescale, ebay etc. Even Google does seem to announce a layoff. And Microsoft might be announcing one real soon. :( Seems hardly any major company is spared.

At local front, the 8th JobStreet.com Malaysia Career & Training Fair was successfully launched this morning. This is the largest Career Fair in town. As the largest recruitment firm in South East Asia, JobStreet.com also launched its JobStreet.com Retrenchment Helpline today. This portal would be specifically targeted to all Malaysians who are retrenched. JobStreet.com would help them to headhunt for a job. And this service is provided free of charge, as part of the corporate social responsibility of JobStreet.com!

So, if you do get retrenched, don't get too panicked. JobStreet.com is here to help you to find a job!


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