Routes out of the Crisis: Strategies for Local Employment Recovery and Skills Development in Asia

Since September 2008, the global economic and financial crisis has reverberated across all sectors and geographic regions, with much of the effect still emerging. While no country has been spared from the effects of the crisis, each country will be affected differently at the different stages. Some have described the crisis occurring in three stages in developing countries; first with the collapse of highly traded industries, then with the drying up of private capital flows and a decline in remittance transfers back to developing countries, and finally with a more general domestic economic slowdown due to reduced consumption. The diverse impact of the crisis has been quite evident in Asia. Countries whose economies have been heavily reliant on the export of basic commodities and manufactured goods have borne the brunt of the economic slowdown, to date. On the other hand, countries with robust domestic economies, sound fiscal positions, excess reserves and large domestic markets have been able to weather the shock better.