Temporary factory closures and layoffs have already begun to hit low wage workers across Asia as quarantines and travel restrictions from the new coronavirus disrupt supply chains linked to China.
For 31-year-old Myanmar worker Aye Su Than, the suspension of production at Hunter Myanmar, which produces clothes for an Italian fashion brand, came out of the blue when managers informed its 900 employees almost two weeks ago.
“They said, ‘There are no orders, no buyers, because of the virus we are going to shut down,'” said Aye Su Than, who is five months pregnant and makes about $130 per month.
She said she got $320 in compensation from the factory, which declined to comment when contacted. “We don’t know what to do now… It is not easy to apply for a job elsewhere during my pregnancy,” Aye Su Than said, sitting in a tea shop in Hlaing Tharyar, an industrial district on the outskirts of Yangon. Such bad news is being repeated in many parts of Asia’s more than $290 billion textile industry, which accounted for 60% of the world’s readymade garments, textiles and footwear in 2015, according to World Trade Organisation statistics. Low-wage workers are particularly vulnerable to any global economic downturn triggered by travel restrictions and quarantines as the coronavirus outbreak spreads from China around the world, roiling supply chains.