Unemployment rates in major economies are heading towards double-digits, and while rates in Asia are rising, they remain far lower and headlines of mass firings are rare.

Singapore's jobless rate is at a three-year high of 3.3 per cent, South Korea's is at 3.9 per cent, its highest in nearly four years, and in Japan unemployment has hit a 5-½ year high of 5 per cent.

Cutting jobs in Asia can be difficult. While unpalatable anywhere, the social stigma attached to cutting jobs, labour laws and a lack of a social security safety net make layoffs a difficult process.

Beyond unemployment, there is also disguised unemployment, where more people are employed to do a job than are needed, and underemployment, where workers are not fully utilised.

Even in extreme cases, layoffs can be hard to push through.

Satyam Computer Services, once India's fourth-largest outsourcing firm, was left struggling for survival after its founder revealed a massive accounting fraud this year.

Its new owner Tech Mahindra created a pool of 9,000 staff, about 20 per cent of its work force, who had not worked for three months and put them on reduced pay. Talk of job cuts has faded.

Loss-making Jet Airways sacked 800 flight attendants and announced plans to lay off another 1,100 staff after it had cut routes to deal with falling demand and rising fuel prices.

However, protests and political pressure followed. Within days, the workers were reinstated and the chief executive apologised to staff. Subsequently, Jet cut its expatriate employees, including pilots, and reduced salaries to lower costs.

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