NEW! Released 7 March 2008
GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT TRENDS FOR WOMEN
March 2008

Access to labour markets and to decent and productive employment is crucial in the process of creating greater equality between men and women. The analysis of the latest data in GET Women 2008 shows that in 2007, 1.2 billion women around the world worked, almost 200 million or 18.4 per cent more than ten years ago. But, the number of unemployed women also grew from 70.2 to 81.6 million over the same period and in 2007, women at the global level still had a higher likelihood of being unemployed than men. The female unemployment rate stood at 6.4 per cent compared to the male rate of 5.7 per cent. The report shows clearly that most regions are making progress in increasing the number of women in decent employment, but that full gender equality in terms of labour market access and conditions of employment has not yet been attained.

GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT TRENDS
January 2008

Economic turbulence largely due to credit market turmoil and rising oil prices could spur an increase in global unemployment by an estimated 5 million persons in 2008. This is one of the main findings in the GET report 2008. This new projection for 2008 is in contrast to 2007, a watershed year in which sound global GDP growth--of more than 5 percent--, led to a "stabilization" of global labour markets with more people in work, a net increase of 45 million new jobs and only a slight increase in the number of people unemployed, to a total of 189.9 million persons worldwide. Other key findings of the GET Report are that despite growth in the economy and jobs, the worldwide deficit in decent jobs—especially for the poor—is "massive". The Report says that five out of 10 people in the world are in vulnerable employment, either contributing family workers or own-account workers with a higher risk of being unprotected. Also, an estimated 487 million workers—or 16.4 percent of all workers — still don’t earn enough to lift themselves and their families above the US$1 per person, per day poverty line while 1.3 billion workers – 43.5 percent – still live below the US$2 per day threshold.