DUSHANBE, June 1, 2009, Asia-Plus — The International Labor Office (ILO) on May 26 issued new labor market projections for 2009, showing a further increase in unemployment, working poor and those in vulnerable employment, press release issued by ILO said..
In presenting the new data, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia, said the ILO’s annual International Labor Conference, to be held in Geneva on 3-19 June, was to consider an emergency “global jobs pact” designed to promote a coordinated policy response to the global jobs crisis.
In the Global Employment Trends Update, May 2009 the ILO revised upwards its unemployment projections to levels ranging from 210 million to 239 million unemployed worldwide in 2009, corresponding to global unemployment rates of 6.5 and 7.4 per cent respectively.
The Trends report projects an increase of between 39 and 59 million unemployed people since 2007 as the most likely range. Actual outcomes will depend on the effectiveness of fiscal expenditures decided by governments and on a functioning financial sector. In this regard, Mr. Somavia recalled the important decisions taken by the G20 Leaders at their London Summit.
Updated projections of working poverty across the world indicate that 200 million workers are at risk of joining the ranks of people living on less than USD 2 per day between 2007 and 2009.
The crisis is hitting youth hard. The number of unemployed youth is expected to increase by between 11 and 17 million from 2008 to 2009. The youth unemployment rate is projected to increase from around 12 per cent in 2008 to a range of 14 to 15 per cent in 2009.
The ILO report said 2009 will represent the worst global performance on record in terms of employment creation. The report underlined that the global labor force is expanding at an average rate of 1.6 per cent, equivalent to around 45 million new entrants annually, while global employment growth decreased to 1.4 per cent in 2008 and is expected to drop further to between 0 and 1 per cent in 2009.
The ILO also said that in the 2009-2015 period, around 300 million new jobs will have to be created just to absorb the growth in the labor force.
According to regional key findings, the number of unemployed in Central and South Eastern Europe (non-EU) and CIS could increase by as much as 35 per cent in 2009. Total employment is projected to shrink by between 1 and 2.8 per cent.
