ILO's unemployment worries
January 20, 2015
Unemployment would rise by 11 million people globally in the next five years due to slower growth and market turbulence, the International Labour Organization said in its 2015 World Employment and Social Outlook.
"The global economy is continuing to grow at tepid rates and that has clear consequences," ILO head Guy Ryder told reporters in Geneva. "The global jobs gap stands at 61 million worldwide," he added, referring to the number of jobs lost since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008.
Ryder acknowledged that the situation on the jobs market had improved in the US, Japan and Britain and remained robust in Germany, but he noted things looked far less rosy in many other parts of the world.
Poverty gap
"The austerity trajectory in Europe in particular has contributed dramatically to increases in unemployment," Ryder maintained.
The UN agency mentioned the steep fall in oil and gas prices, which would hit the labor market hard in producing nations in Latin America, Africa and the Arab world.
The ILO said extreme poverty continued to affect one out of 10 workers globally who earned less than $1.50 (1.29 euros) a day. It said wage cuts had also been a key demand of international bailouts of struggling eurozone nations.
hg/sgb (Reuters, AFP)