No end in sight to global job crisis: ILO

In advanced countries, especially in Europe, employment is not expected to return to pre-crisis levels of 2008 until the end of 2016—two years later than it previously predicted—in line with a slowdown in production.

An estimated 196 million people were unemployed worldwide at the end of last year, forecast to rise to 202 million in 2012 for a rate of 6.1 percent, according to the United Nations agency’s annual flagship report, ‘‘World of Work Report 2012’’.

‘‘Austerity has not produced more economic growth,’’ Raymond Torres, director of the ILO Institute for International Labour Studies, told a news briefing on Sunday.

‘‘The ill-conceived labour market reforms in the short-term cannot work either. These reforms in situations of crisis tend to lead to more job destruction and very little job creation at least in the short-term,’’ said Torres, the report’s lead author.

Long-term jobseekers are demoralised and an average of 40%of job seekers in their prime (aged 25-49) in advanced countries have been without work for more than a year, the report found.

Youth jobless rates have soared, increasing the risk of social unrest especially in parts of Africa and the middle East.

The labour market overall has deteriorated over the past six months, with a very significant slowdown in the case of European countries, Torres said. Unemployment is growing in a significant number of countries,

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