Global Employment Trends for 2008

In contrast to last year (2007), where an increase of more than 5% global GDP growth of led to a stabilization of global labor markets with more people in work resulting in a net increase of 45 million new jobs and only a slight increase in the number of people unemployed; the International Labor Office (ILO) in its Global Employment Trends report (GET) projected five million more people could be unemployed due to global economic turbulence largely due to credit market turmoil and rising oil prices.

“This year’s global jobs picture is one of contrasts and uncertainty”, said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia. “While global growth is annually producing millions of new jobs, unemployment remains unacceptably high and may go to levels not seen before this year. What’s more, though more people are in work than ever before, this doesn’t mean that these jobs are decent jobs. Too many people, if not unemployed, remain among the ranks of the working poor, the vulnerable or the discouraged.”

The challenges facing the regions have remained relatively unchanged. Not only is there a low impact of growth on the job but there is also another concern: the ongoing (but already slightly decreasing) growth does not have as substantial impact
as necessary to reduce the levels of working poverty, especially in the poor regions of the world. There are still 486.7 million workers in the world who do not earn enough to lift themselves and their families above the US $1 a day poverty line and 1.3 billion workers do not earn enough to lift themselves and their families above the US $2 a day line. In other words, despite working more than four out of ten workers are poor. To make a long term inroad into unemployment and working poverty, it is essential that periods of high growth are better used to generate more decent and productive jobs. Reducing unemployment and working poverty through creation of such jobs should be viewed as a precondition for sustained economic growth.