Unemployment Feared

Two years of global financial and economic meltdown could leave over 50 million more people unemployed by the end of 2009, risking social unrest.New estimates indicate that “global unemployment in 2009 could increase over 2007 by a range of 18 million to 30 million workers, and more than 50 million if the situation continues to deteriorate,” the ILO states this in a statement to a news channel..We have to assume that we are now facing a global jobs crisis.” Officials were more inclined to a middle range scenario of 30 million job losses for 2007-2009.That could propel the global unemployment rate to an average of 6.5 to 7.1 as it is against the 2007 rate of 5.7 unemployment.IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn criticised the G20, saying they had made little progress in fighting the global financial crisis in all era.Last year the developed economies and European Union failed to create jobs in 2008, while unemployment picked up sharply to 6.2 per cent, ending five consecutive years of decline.But East Asia, which had the lowest regional unemployment rate at 3.5 per cent in 2007, was forecast to experience a jump to 4.5-5.5 per cent in a year.The crisis could also push another 200 million workers into extreme poverty as they eke out a living in informal, underpaid and unstable work, especially in Africa and South Asia.