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GENEVA
(ILO News) –The number of people unemployed worldwide remained at an
historical high in 2006 despite strong global economic growth, the
International Labour Office (ILO) said in its annual Global
Employment Trends
released
today The
ILO’s “Global Employment Trends Brief 2007” reported that even
though more people are working globally than ever before, the number
of unemployed remained at an all time high of 195.2 million in 2006 or
at a global rate of 6.3 per cent. This rate was almost unchanged from
the previous year. The
ILO also reported only modest gains in lifting some of the world’s
1.37 billion working poor—those working but living on less than the
equivalent of US$ 2 per person, per day—out of poverty, stressing
that there weren’t enough decent and productive jobs to raise them
and their families above the US$ 2 poverty line. “The strong economic growth of the last half decade
has only had a slight impact on the reduction of the number of workers
who live with their families in poverty and this was only true in a
handful of countries. In
addition growth failed to reduce global unemployment,” said ILO
Director-General Juan Somavia. “What’s more, even with continued
strong global economic growth in 2007 there is serious concern about
the prospects for decent job creation and reducing working poverty
further.” The
report said that in order to maintain or reduce unemployment rates,
the link between growth and jobs must be reinforced. It said creation
of decent and productive jobs—not just any jobs—was a prerequisite
for reducing unemployment and slashing the number of families working
but still living in poverty. This in turn is a precondition for future
development and economic growth. Other findings in the trends report showed that: The study said that in most of the regions, unemployment rates did not change markedly between 2005 and 2006. The largest decrease occurred in the region of the Developed Economies and European Union, where the unemployment rate declined by 0.6 percentage points between 2005 and 2006 to 6.2 per cent. East Asia's unemployment rate was 3.6 per cent, thereby remaining the lowest in the world. South Asia's unemployment rate was 5.2 per cent and South-East Asia and the Pacific's was 6.6 per cent. According to the report, the Middle East and North Africa remained the region with the highest unemployment rate in the world at 12.2 per cent in 2006. Sub-Saharan Africa's rate stood at 9.8 per cent, the second highest in the world. The region also had the highest share in working poverty, with 8 out of 10 women and men living on less than $2 a day with their families. This underscores that tackling the decent work deficit in Africa is a regional and global priority. The report also specified that employment-to-population ratios - the share of people employed within the working age population - varied between regions. The Middle East and North Africa region had the lowest ratio, at 47.3 per cent in 2006. East Asia had the highest ratio with 71.6 per cent in 2006 but its ratio dropped by 3.5 percentage points over the last 10 years. If caused by an increase in educational participation – as is the case in East Asia - a decrease of the employment-to-population ratio is a good thing. In Latin America the ratio gained 1.8 percentage points up to 60.3 per cent of people employed within its working age population in 2006. The ILO estimates showed that in all regions, the total
number of working poor at the US$1 level declined between 2001 and
2006 except in Sub-Saharan Africa where it increased by another 14
million and in Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa
where it stayed more or less unchanged. Over the same period the total
number of US$2 a day working poor declined in Central and Eastern
Europe (non-EU) and CIS, and most significantly in East Asia by 65
million. On the other hand, it increased in South-East Asia and the
Pacific, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa with the biggest
rise, of 26 million, occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa. “Every region has to face major labour market
challenges”, says the ILO report, “young people have more
difficulties in labour markets than adults; women do not get the same
opportunities as men, the lack of decent work is still high; and the
potential a population has to offer is not always used because of a
lack of human capital development or a mismatch between the supply and
the demand side in labour markets.” “Nowadays the widespread conviction is that decent
work is the only sustainable way to reduce poverty, which is why the
target of “full, productive and decent employment” will be a new
target within the Millennium Development Goals in 2007. Therefore it
is now the time for governments as well as the international community
to make sure that the favourable economic conditions in most parts of
the world will be translated into decent job growth,” concludes the
report. For more information please contact:
Krisdaporn
Singhaseni |
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