World needs 600 million new jobs in next decade: ILO

GENEVA | Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:23pm EST

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-economy-ilo-idUSTRE80M2G020120123?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&rpc=935

(Reuters) - The International Labour Organization sounded the alarm on the global jobs situation in its annual report on Monday and called for more coordination of fiscal policies, repair and regulation of the financial sector and support for the real economy.

"What has changed with respect to last year is that our forecast has become much more pessimistic," said Ekkehard Ernst, one of the report's authors.

"We had expected a gradual stagnation or coming down of unemployment numbers. That's not something we foresee this year any more. Even in our baseline the unemployment numbers are increasing. With a possibility of a serious deterioration of global growth these numbers actually increase very much."

The ILO says there are nearly 200 million unemployed and that another 40 million jobs need to be created each year for the next decade.

"Hence, to generate sustainable growth while maintaining social cohesion, the world must rise to the urgent challenge of creating 600 million productive jobs over the next decade, which would still leave 900 million workers living with their families below the $2 a day poverty line, largely in developing countries," the report said.

Even under fairly benign conditions such as a quick resolution of the euro debt crisis, the ILO expects global unemployment to be stuck at about 6 percent until at least 2016.

The data was based on figures for mid- or end-2011 for most countries, although ILO officials use their own estimates for the two biggest countries, China and India.

(Reporting by Tom Miles; editing by Ron Askew)