| Financial
crisis could cost '20 million jobs by end 2009'
October
21 2008
The financial
crisis could lead to a 20 million rise in the number of
unemployed worldwide by the end of 2009, International Labour
Organisation (ILO) chief Juan Somavia warned.
Estimates from
the ILO indicate that the "number of unemployed could
rise from 190 million in 2007 to 210 million in late 2009,"
said Mr Somavia, marking the "first time in history
that we pass 210 million."
The population
of working poor living on less than a dollar a day could
rise by 40 million, and those on two dollars a day by over
100 million, added the ILO.
But Mr Somavia
said these projections "could prove to be underestimates
if the effects of the current economic contraction and looming
recession are not quickly confronted."
Thousands of
jobs have already been slashed on Wall Street and other
financial centres as banks collapse or are forced to merge
due to the credit crunch.
But the ILO said
that the axe was likely to reach ordinary working people,
with sectors including construction, the automotive industry,
tourism, services and real estate bearing the brunt of the
financial storm.
"This is
not simply a crisis on Wall Street, this is a crisis on
all streets. We need an economic rescue plan for working
families and the real economy, with rules and policies that
deliver decent jobs," he said.
Unemployment
rates have been rising throughout the world.
Hong Kong earlier
Monday said its jobless rate rose to 3.4 per cent for the
three months to September, compared to 3.2 per cent in the
three months to August.
Meanwhile, the
United States reported earlier this month that it had lost
159,000 jobs in September.
Mr Somavia called
for "prompt and coordinated government actions to avert
a social crisis", and said he welcomed calls for "better
financial regulation and a global surveillance system of
checks and balances."
The crisis gave
an "opportunity" to re-balance globalisation which
had grown "unfair, unsustainable and unbalanced,"
he added.
Source: http://www.bigpond.com/news/world/content/20081021/2396536.asp
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