Two years of global financial and economic meltdown could leave more than 50 million more people unemployed by the end of this year, risking social unrest, the International Labor Organization (ILO) warned on Wednesday.
New estimates indicate that “global unemployment in 2009 could increase over 2007 by a range of 18 million to 30 million workers, and more than 50 million if the situation continues to deteriorate,” the ILO said in a statement.
That could raise the world’s jobless total to 198 million, or 230 million people in the worst-case scenario, figures in the ILO’s report, Global Employment Trends 2009, showed.
In 2007, some 179 million people were out of work, the report said.
“The ILO’s message is realistic, not alarmist,” Director-General Juan Somavia told reporters. “We have to assume that we are now facing a global jobs crisis.”
Officials were more inclined to a middle-range scenario of 30 million job losses for 2007 to this year, raising the worldwide unemployment tally to 210 million.
However, labor experts believe the lowest scenario has already been overtaken.
That could propel the global unemployment rate to an average of 6.5 percent, or 7.1 percent in the worst case, for this year, against 5.7 percent in 2007.
The report said that 190 million people were jobless by the end of last year after 11 million jobs were shed around the world last year alone, based on a combination of official national data and estimates. If that figure were confirmed, the economic crisis could claim two to four times more jobs this year alone under the ILO’s forecast.
Somavia urged the Group of 20 leading industrial and emerging economies to examine measures to boost “productive” investments, create jobs and bolster social protection, on top of helping financial institutions.
Pointing to growing unease about job security, Somavia said: “I think that social unrest is here already.
“That’s why the emphasis we’re giving to this crisis is — please don’t forget the people,” he said.
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