Still fewer jobs than before crisis, outlook bleak: ILO

There are still 50 million fewer jobs worldwide than before the 2008 financial and economic crisis, the International Labour Organization said in its flagship report released Friday 26 April, with developed economies and those under thirty particularly affected.

D.R. — ILO World of Work Report 2012, p.3

“Around 50 million jobs are missing relative to the pre-crisis situation,” the ILO said in its 2012 “World of Work” report, with the global employment rate standing at 60.3 percent, compared to 61.2 percent before 2008.

Developed economies are particularly affected, it said, noting that among the 36 advanced economies surveyed, only Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Israel, Poland and Malta had lower jobless rates than before the crisis.

Furthermore, unemployment rates among those under thirty “have increased in about 80 percent of advanced economies and in two thirds of developing economies,” the ILO said, adding that “on average, more than 36 percent of job-seekers in advanced economies have been without work for more than one year.”

The crisis has also led to an increase in poverty rates in half of advanced economies and one-third of developing countries, the ILO said, explaining that “the majority of new jobs are remunerated at a rate below average wages.”

The outlook for a recovery remains bleak in the short-term, the labour organization added, citing fears of worsening economic outlooks for China, the EU, India and Saudi Arabia.

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