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Global unemployment hits highest levels on record
The mounting number of jobless people around the world has climbed to an historic high with nearly 212 million unemployed last year–or 6.6 percent of the global workforce–and the situation in Europe is likely to worsen before it gets better, according to a new United Nations report.
In its annual Global Employment Trends report the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that 34 million more people joined the ranks of the unemployed in 2008 and 2009, pushing the total number of out-of-work adults to a record high.
The report painted a gloomy assessment for the labor market this year, predicting that unemployment figures will remain high through 2010 with an additional 3 million people losing their jobs in the European Union and other developed economies, while unemployment stabilizes or declines only slightly in other regions.
"We need the same policy decisiveness that saved banks now applied to save and create jobs and livelihoods of people," said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia, ahead of the annual World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland.