GENEVA, Switzerland, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Despite strong global economic growth last year, the International Labor Organization says the number of unemployed worldwide is at an historical high.
The Geneva-based U.N. agency Thursday said the total was nearly 200 million unemployed in 2006, reflecting only modest gains made in lifting some of the 1.37 billion working poor living on less than $2 per day out of poverty.
The pattern looks set to continue this year, the ILO's Global Employment Trends said.
"To make long-term inroads into unemployment and working poverty, it is essential that periods of strong growth be better used to generate more decent and productive jobs," said the report. "Reducing unemployment and working poverty through creation of such jobs should be viewed as a precondition for sustained economic growth."
Even though more people are working globally than ever before, the number of unemployed remained at an all time high of 195.2 million last year, a global rate of 6.3 percent, almost unchanged from 2005, with a forecast economic growth rate of 4.9 percent for 2007 likely to ensure that unemployment remains at about the same level, the ILO said.
"The persistence of joblessness at this rate is of concern, given that it will be difficult to sustain such strong economic growth indefinitely," it said, adding that in order to maintain or reduce unemployment rates, the link between growth and jobs must be reinforced.
Creation of decent and productive jobs is a prerequisite for reducing unemployment and slashing the number of families working but still living in poverty, which in turn is a precondition for future development and economic growth, the report said.
