Fallout from the economic crisis

Another view from the economic fallout - this time from South east Asia:

While the crisis in the West centers on insolvent banks, home foreclosures and swelling unemployment, in Southeast Asia economists predict that one hallmark of the downturn will be the exodus of workers back to the family farm.

“It won’t take them long to lose their bellies,” said Samer Songserm, the 56-year-old wizened headman of this small village who has counted 10 unemployed workers returning from Bangkok over the past two months....

The crisis is still in its early stages in Southeast Asia. But as conditions worsen, as many economists and governments are forecasting, factory and construction workers, waiters in the fancy restaurants of Bangkok and the chambermaids in Jakarta’s hotels will have little choice but to return to their villages if they lose their jobs. Most countries in the region, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia and Laos, do not have a national system of unemployment benefits...

Laid-off migrant workers in other parts of the world, notably in China, are also reportedly returning home. But one difference for workers in Southeast Asia is that they live in a very accommodating climate. “Somebody said to me the other day, ‘It’s better to be poor in a warm country than a cold country,’ ” said Jean-Pierre Verbiest, the country director of the Asian Development Bank in Thailand.