GENEVA / GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT TRENDS PRESSER

The latest survey from the ILO warns that with global unemployment at record highs for the third straight year since the start of the economic crisis, weak recovery in jobs is likely to continue in 2011, especially in developed economies. ILO

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:31
• Production Date: 24 January 2011
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION - ILO
• Subject Topical: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; FINANCING; ECONOMICS; ECONOMIC CONDITIONS; EMPLOYMENT
• MAMS Id: U110124g

Description

STORY: GENEVA / GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT TRENDS PRESSER
TRT: 1.31
SOURCE: ILO
RESTRICTIONS: EMBARGO UNTIL 2300 GMT 24 JANUARY 2011
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 24 JANUARY 2011

Shotlist

RECENT 2010, PALAIS DE NATIONS, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations

24 JANUARY 2011, PALAIS DES NATIONS, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2. Wide shot, press conference to launch the 'Global Employment Trends 2011: The challenge of a jobs recovery' ILO report
3. SOUNDBITE (English) José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Director of the Employment Sector, ILO:
"It is clear that in 2011 the world will continue to face a big challenge of jobs recovery.”
4. Cutaway, press conference
5. SOUNDBITE (English) José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Director of the Employment Sector, ILO:
“We estimate the number of unemployed in the world to have grown by 27.6 million in between 2007 and 2010, from 177.3 million to 205 million. And we project only a slight improvement in unemployment this year.”
6. Cutaway, press conference
7. SOUNDBITE (English) José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Director of the Employment Sector, ILO:
“This weak labour market situation is by itself a drag on world growth and a threat to recovery going forward. Averages tell only part of the story. Some groups are clearly worse off than others, for instance the global youth unemployment rate stood at 12.6 per cent in 2010, versus 4.8 per cent for adults. That is, the unemployment rate among youth is 2.6 times that of adults.”
8. Cutaway, press conference
9. SOUNDBITE (English) José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Director of the Employment Sector, ILO:
“A narrow focus on reducing deficits in the short run without addressing the challenge of job creation will further weaken employment prospects and threaten the recovery. It is therefore crucial to maintain or enhance fiscal and other measures that boost employment wherever possible."
10. Wide shot, press conference

Storyline

The International Labour Organization (ILO) warned today in Geneva during its annual employment trends survey that weak recovery in jobs was likely to continue in 2011, especially in developed economies.

The “Global Employment Trends 2011: The challenge of a jobs recovery” report points to a highly differentiated recovery in labour markets, with persistently high levels of unemployment as well as growing discouragement in developed countries, and with employment growth and continued high levels of vulnerable employment and working poverty in developing regions. These trends stand in stark contrast to the recovery seen in several key macroeconomic indicators: global GDP, private consumption, investment, and international trade and equity markets have all recovered in 2010, surpassing pre-crisis levels.

José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, ILO’s Employment sector Executive Director said that it was clear that in 2011 the world would continue to face a big challenge for jobs recovery.

Despite a sharp rebound in economic growth for many countries, official global unemployment stood at 205 million in 2010, essentially unchanged from 2009, and 27.6 million more than on the eve of the global economic crisis in 2007. The ILO projects a global unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent, equivalent to 203.3 million unemployed, through 2011.

The report shows that 55 per cent of the increase in global unemployment between 2007 and 2010 occurred in the Developed Economies and European Union (EU) region, while the region only accounts for 15 per cent of the world’s labour force. In several economies in the developing world, such as Brazil, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Uruguay, unemployment rates have actually fallen below their pre-crisis levels.

The report also finds there were 630 million workers (20.7 per cent of all workers in the world) living with their families at the extreme 1.25 dollars a day level in 2009. This corresponds to an additional 40 million working poor, 1.6 percentage points higher than projected on the basis of pre-crisis trends.

Salazar-Xirinachs said that a narrow focus on reducing deficits in the short run without addressing the challenge of job creation would further weaken employment prospects and threaten the recovery. Therefore, he said that it was crucial to maintain or enhance fiscal and other measures that boost employment wherever possible.

Worldwide, 78 million young people were unemployed in 2010, well above the pre-crisis level of 73.5 million in 2007, but down from 80 million in 2009. The unemployment rate among youth aged 15-24 stood at 12.6 per cent in 2010, 2.6 times the adult rate of unemployment. However, the ILO also warned that among 56 countries with available data, there were 1.7 million fewer youth in the labor market than expected based on pre-crisis trends, and that such discouraged workers are not counted among the unemployed because they are not actively seeking work.