United Nations warns of growing inequality and joblessness

Unemployment will rise by 11 million in the next five years due to slower growth and turbulence, the UN warned on Tuesday. More than 212 million people will be jobless by 2019 against the current level of 201 million, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said. ”The global economy is continuing to grow at tepid rates and that has clear consequences,” ILO head Guy Ryder told reporters in Geneva. The ILO World Employment and Social Outlook -Trends 2015 report said an extra 280 million jobs would have to be created by 2019 to close the gap created by the financial turmoil. The job scenario has improved in the United States, Japan and Britain but remains worrisome in several developed economies of Europe, the report said.

The global jobs gap due to the crisis stands at 61 million jobs worldwide.

ILO head Guy Ryder

The UN agency said the steep fall in energy prices would hit the labour market hard in oil and gas-producing countries in Latin America, Africa and the Arab world. But one of the rare bits of good news was that the middle class comprised more than 34 per cent of total employment in developing countries, up from 20 per cent in the 1990s. However, extreme poverty continues to affect one out of 10 workers globally who earn less than $1.50 a day, Ryder said. A widening chasm between the haves and have-nots and an uncertain investment climate have made it difficult for countries to rebound from the crisis.

There is massive human waste, suffering and misery stemming out of unemployment.

Guy Ryder

World