More people to lose jobs in near future

While some state assistance will still be available, employers in each country would continue imposing measures, such as salary cuts or more work without extra pay, on their workers in order to survive, said Gyorgy Sziraczki, an economist attached to the International Labour Organisation.

"But once these subsidies are no longer available, the layoff rate would increase drastically," he said.

In the Philippines, the unemployment rate has risen to 5.9 per cent - the highest in the region. The overall rate in Asia will rise to 100 million people from the current 23 million. "People who have crossed the poverty line will be pushed back down again and it will take a very long time before a full recovery can be expected in Asia," he added.Worrawit Jaroenlert, a lecturer on economy at Chiang Mai University, said Thailand needed to rethink its economic structure in the long run so it depends less on exports, which accounts for around 70 per cent of the country's gross national product. He said the labour sector, made up of 12 million people, was still at risk though the general economic situation here was better than in many other countries.

The number of Thais regarded as "poor" has increased from eight million before the 1997 economic crisis to 12 million and counting under the economic downturn.