Reading the newspapers can be an ordeal nowadays as they are filled with stories of layoffs and bailouts and plunging stock prices, with predictions of worse to come.

Even though other countries such as US and Europe are the hardest hit, Malaysia is not spared either. The blow may be soft in coming but it has gradually dawned on us that we are heading for the worst economy crisis ever. Is this the year of “doom and gloom”?

The Malaysian Human Resources Minister Datuk S. Subramaniam and his ministry have been watching the employment market closely. In recent months, there were already reports of companies especially the manufacturing sector that is starting to lay off workers. It was reported that 137 employers, mostly from the electronics sector will retrench close to 5000 workers. Undoubtedly, many workers are concerned about such figures. “Am I the next one to be cut?” may just be the question in everyone’s mind nowadays.

As stated in one of our previous articles, Job Loss = Temporary Identity Loss, a job loss is equivalent to an individual temporary identity loss, we can take this further to say that it has far reaching repercussions that affects a society as a whole. Don’t ever in a minute think that it is your neighbor’s problem when he had lost the job and count yourself lucky when you still have one. We exist in communities and therefore dependent on one another for survival. The social costs of unemployment cannot be underestimated. In yesterday’s newspaper, it was reported that a factory worker that was laid off recently due to closure of her employer’s factory had resorted to stealing. And what did she steal? Milk powder, butter, preserved fruits, petai, chocolates, chewing gum, raisins, beehoon, sweets, coffee, fragrances, balm, detergent and containers that were worth RM275.09 (as reported in N3 The Star, Tuesday 6 January 2009). She was caught, jailed for two days and fined RM300 in default three months’ jail. Isn’t it an irony that her fine is more than the worth of her stolen goods? This is an example of the social consequences of unemployment – rise in crime and vandalism.

Can the employer make the retrenchment as “the last resort”? This is not only the wish of our government or the Human Resources Ministry but I believe much desired by every wage or income earner. Some employers had tried to shorten their working week or reduce the number of shifts which helps to soften the blow. But, what if retrenchment is the only way out? Naturally, the government has to step in such as providing allowance to those that opt to take up training or skills courses while awaiting a suitable job, which is part of some new initiatives of the National Action Plan for Employment that had just begun and last till 2010. This may provide a reprieve depending on how we view the current cause of unemployment. In economics language, training of new skills is the answer to cure “frictional” unemployment – when workers change jobs voluntarily or terminated/made redundant. Frictional unemployment happened when workers are unaware of other job opportunities and therefore remain unemployed. When they are able to find a match of their skills or new acquired skills to an available job, they will be employed. In our current situation, again using the economics language, the high percentage of unemployment is most likely caused by “cyclical” unemployment which is caused due to fluctuations in the economy. Every economy goes through a business/trade cycle. In a recession now, consumer demand falls and companies have to reduce their level of output. In order to do that, they may have to resort to cutting head-count so to reduce their overheads. Therefore, a rise in unemployment is inevitable. So, what is the solution? It looks like no one truly has a definite answer to this.

For employers, it’s important to take this time to challenge themselves on exploring new markets and reinventing some of their marketing and distribution strategies.

What about employees?

In a depressed employment market, it is good to possess the attitude of “learn and keep learning”. Strive to multi-task and do not be fussy about extra or new job responsibilities assigned. Instead of saying, “I can’t do this!”, change your attitude to “Though I am a square peg and it’s difficult to go into a round hole, I shall shave off my edges to go in.”

Let’s not deny that we are in bad times. Things will probably get worse before they get better but instead of seeing only gloomy clouds, let’s attempt to see beyond and envisage silver linings in the clouds. It is time such as these that men’s souls and fortitude are tested and people that survived are those that can “reinvent” themselves!