Level 2

Global labour market needs '600m more jobs'

By Michael Millar

Date: Tuesday 24 Jan 2012

Global labour market needs '600m more jobs'

The world faces the “urgent challenge” of creating 600m productive jobs over the next decade, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Failure to do so could mean sustainable growth fails and social cohesion breaks down, its annual report on global employment said.

The report claims that three years of continuous crisis conditions in global labour markets had led to a backlog of global unemployment of 200m.

There are there are 27m more unemployed workers than there were at the start of the crisis, it said.

On top of creating these jobs, the report says more than 400m new jobs will be needed over the next decade to absorb the estimated 40m growth of the labour force each year.

Global Employment Trends Report also said the world faces the additional challenge of creating decent jobs for the estimated 900 million workers living with their families below the US$ 2 a day poverty line, mostly in developing countries.

“Despite strenuous government efforts, the jobs crisis continues unabated, with one in three workers worldwide – or an estimated 1.1bn people – either unemployed or living in poverty”, said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia.

“What is needed is that job creation in the real economy must become our number one priority.'

The report also claims the problem could be worse than the figures show as there are nearly 29m fewer people in the labour force now than would be expected based on pre-crisis trends.

"If these discouraged workers were counted as unemployed, then global unemployment would swell from the current 197m to 225m, and the unemployment rate would rise from 6% to 6.9%," the study said.

It also warns that in times of faltering demand further stimulus is important and this can be done "in a way that does not put the sustainability of public finances at risk".

The report calls for fiscal consolidation efforts to be carried out in a "socially responsible manner", with growth and employment prospects as guiding principles.

« Go back to news channel

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:


Top of Page