UN: Record highs in global unemployment to remain in 2011

UN: Record highs in global unemployment to remain in 2011

2011-01-26 13:46:12 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- Global unemployment in 2011 is likely to remain at the record highs of the past three years, despite a recovery in the global economy, the United Nations labour agency reported.

In 2010, official global unemployment stood at 205 million, essentially unchanged from 2009, that is 27.6 million more than on the eve of the global economic crisis in 2007. The International Labour Office (ILO) projects a global unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent, equivalent to 203.3 million unemployed, through 2011.

"In spite of a highly differentiated recovery in labor markets across the world the tremendous human costs of the recession are still with us," ILO director general Juan Somavia said.

Youth unemployment rates are also alarming. Worldwide, 78 million young people were unemployed in 2010, up from 73.5 million in 2007. Unemployment in the 15-24 age group stood at 12.6 per cent in 2010, 2.6 times the adult rate of unemployment.

About 55 percent of the rise in global unemployment between 2007 and 2010 occurred in the Developed Economies and European Union region. While in several developing countries, such as Brazil, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Uruguay, unemployment rates have fallen below pre-crisis levels.

Globally, some 630 million workers - 20.7 percent of all workers - lived with their families at the extreme $1.25-a-day level in 2009.

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