Sad state of global employment

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/ed20120219a2.html

The employment situation is worsening around the world, according to a report by the United Nations International Labor Organization (ILO). The report highlighted the disastrous effects of the global downturn on workers. Unemployment remains high around the world.

Over 200 million potential workers remain unemployed, for a global jobless rate of 6.0 percent. And the ILO estimates that 30 percent of all workers, 910 million people, can be considered working poor, surviving on an average of less than $2 a day.

Though the situation is slightly better than in 2009, when the financial crisis hit, slowing growth rates and 40 million new entrants to the labor force every year mean that 400 million additional jobs will be needed over the next decade. That number, on top of the current 200 million unemployed, may seem an insurmountable hurdle, but putting job creation first is one of the surest routes to economic improvement and social stability.

Particularly worrisome is that young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are nearly three times as likely to be unemployed as those older. The global youth unemployment rate stands at 12.7 percent, which is higher than before the crisis began. That means 74.8 million young people are currently not working. Those figures give new meaning to the phrase "lost generation." When jobs and income are lost, so is hope and direction.