Human resources development and employment centre. These young women are unemployed and looking for work. Tianjin, China. Photo: M. Crozet/ILO.

For emerging and developing countries, employment levels could start recovering from the end of 2010, but employment rates might not recover in the near term. This contention is corroborated by the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation’s (OECD) Economic Outlook for November 2009, which concludes that the recovery is too timid to prevent unemployment from rising.

To contextualize the impact of the crisis on the global labour market thus far, over 20 million jobs have been lost and the number of jobseekers worldwide was estimated to have reached between 219 and 341 million at the end of 2009, which corresponds to a worldwide unemployment rate of between 6.8 per cent and 7.5 per cent.

Additional concerns loom large on the horizon. For instance, without appropriate action, nearly 43 million persons over the period 2009-2012 could enter inactivity or long-term unemployment. The social exclusion synonymous with long-term unemployment risks more widespread inactivity, increased informality, loss of skills and a decline in the human capital of individuals, along with diminished social cohesion and trust.

A number of these consequences tend to have an insidious staying power, adding importance to the efforts of governments to ensure appropriate social security responses to the labour market crisis.

Sources

International Institute for Labour Studies, ILO. 2009a. World of Work Report 2009.
www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_118384.pdf

ILO. May 2009. "Les suppressions demploi s'accélèrent du fait de la crise économique indique le BIT." Communiqué de presse. www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Press_releases/lang--fr/WCMS_106526/index.htm

ILO. September 2009. "Despite continued rise in unemployment, measures taken by G20 governments will save up to 11 million jobs in 2009." Press release.
www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Press_releases/lang--en/WCMS_113989/index.htm

OECD, 2009. Economic Outlook No. 86, November 2009.
www.oecd.org/document/18/0,3343,en_2649_34109_20347538_1_1_1_1,00.html

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