Strong global growth fails to reduce jobless

from The Mail and Guardian

Strong global economic growth is failing to reduce unemployment worldwide and has done little to cut the number of "working poor" who earn less than $2 a day, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said on Thursday.

Even though more people were employed than ever before, the number of new jobs created failed to match the rise in global population.

The result was that the number of jobless remained at a record high of 195,2-million in 2006, the ILO said in its annual report on employment trends.

About 1,37-billion people were still working for $2 a day or less, which marks the international poverty line.

"The strong economic growth of the last half decade has only had a slight impact on the reduction of the number of workers who live with their families in poverty," said ILO director general Juan Somavia.

"Even with continued strong global economic growth in 2007, there is serious concern about the prospects for decent job creation and reducing working poverty," he added.

For the first time, service industries became the world's largest employers accounting for 40% of the global workforce, overtaking agriculture which slipped to 38,7%.

In its report, Global Employment Trends Brief 2007, the ILO said that over the past decade rising economic output was more a reflection of greater productivity than increased employment.

While understanding the need to fight inflation, the ILO has long called for governments to give higher priority to promoting growth and creating jobs.

The Middle East and North Africa remained the region where unemployment was highest at 12,2%, ahead of sub-Saharan Africa with 9,8%.

But up to 10% of workers in sub-Saharan Africa, the highest percentage of any region, take home less than $2 a day. Over the past five years, the number of working poor in the region has risen by 26-million. - Reuters