The world is facing an "unprecedented global jobs crisis of mammoth proportions", the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a statement issued for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) taking place in Davos last month.
ILO Director-General Juan Somavia hailed the decision of the WEF to place on its 2006 agenda an item on creating future jobs, and urged the world''s top business and government leaders attending the Forum to consider urgent steps for tackling a worsening global jobs situation.
The ILO Director-General said the global jobs crisis was illustrated by a number of factors: half of all the workers in the world - some 1.4 billion working poor - currently live in families that survive on less than US$ 2 a day per person. They work in the vast informal sector - from farms to fishing, from agriculture to urban alleyways - without benefits, social security or health care.
Unemployment in terms of actual people out of work is at its highest point ever and continues to rise. In the last ten years, official unemployment has grown by more than 25 per cent and now stands at nearly 192 million worldwide, or about 6 per cent of the global workforce.
Mr. Somavia warned that the global jobs crisis was a growing concern in terms of its impact on markets and incomes, and a threat to the credibility of democracies around the world. He noted that putting job creation, global employment, new skill development and labour mobility on the WEF agenda marked a major step forward in raising awareness among world leaders of the urgency of this issue.
Mr. Somavia said this "opportunity gap" took a heavy toll on the lives of women and men and their families, not only because it meant that millions of people might not have enough or even any income, but also because having decent work affects people''s dignity, their sense of self worth and the stability of their families.
"Decent work is at the heart of the economic and social concerns of all people", Mr. Somavia said.
ILO Director-General Juan Somavia hailed the decision of the WEF to place on its 2006 agenda an item on creating future jobs, and urged the world''s top business and government leaders attending the Forum to consider urgent steps for tackling a worsening global jobs situation.
The ILO Director-General said the global jobs crisis was illustrated by a number of factors: half of all the workers in the world - some 1.4 billion working poor - currently live in families that survive on less than US$ 2 a day per person. They work in the vast informal sector - from farms to fishing, from agriculture to urban alleyways - without benefits, social security or health care.
Unemployment in terms of actual people out of work is at its highest point ever and continues to rise. In the last ten years, official unemployment has grown by more than 25 per cent and now stands at nearly 192 million worldwide, or about 6 per cent of the global workforce.
Mr. Somavia warned that the global jobs crisis was a growing concern in terms of its impact on markets and incomes, and a threat to the credibility of democracies around the world. He noted that putting job creation, global employment, new skill development and labour mobility on the WEF agenda marked a major step forward in raising awareness among world leaders of the urgency of this issue.
Mr. Somavia said this "opportunity gap" took a heavy toll on the lives of women and men and their families, not only because it meant that millions of people might not have enough or even any income, but also because having decent work affects people''s dignity, their sense of self worth and the stability of their families.
"Decent work is at the heart of the economic and social concerns of all people", Mr. Somavia said.
