Employment Trends (EMP/TRENDS)

GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT TRENDS
BRIEF October 2005
Employment Impact in Pakistan of South Asia Earthquake
Released 14 October 2005

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The region affected by the tragic earthquake that struck on October 8 has large numbers of poor with little savings and who therefore rely heavily on their own labour for their survival. Therefore, one piece of information that is both crucial for the region’s recovery and central to the mission of the ILO is how the earthquake has damaged people’s ability to earn an income and to provide for themselves and their families. To help piece together this vital information, the ILO has undertaken a rapid employment assessment to provide key information about the affected labour markets and to estimate the number and share of jobs that were lost due to the earthquake.

GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT TRENDS
BRIEF February 2005
Released 14 February 2005

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The global employment situation improved slightly in 2004. Global unemployment stood at 184.7 million at the end of 2004, down from a revised 185.2 million in 2003. Although the decline in unemployment is very small in percentage terms, this is a significant development, as it marks only the second time in the past decade that there was a year-over-year decline in total unemployment. In addition, the global employment-to-population ratio stabilized in 2004 at 61.8 per cent, from a revised 61.7 in 2003. The robust global economic growth rate of 5 per cent in 2004 undoubtedly played a large role in shaping these employment outcomes.

The focus of this Global Employment Trends Brief is not only on increasing employment, but also on poverty alleviation and improving the conditions of work. This brief updates the labour market trends to 2004 and addresses six key labour market challenges that are on the horizon for 2005, which are expected to impact on the global employment situation and poverty reduction. These challenges are the December 26th Asian Tsunami disaster, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, agricultural productivity in developing economies, outsourcing of employment, working conditions in the informal economy, and youth employment—all of which require immediate attention and a sustained response by governments, international organizations and civil society if we are to achieve the goal of decent and productive work for all.

GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT TRENDS
Supplement for Europe & Central Asia, February 2005
Released 14 February 2005

Global Employment Trends Supplement View PDF
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Europe and Central Asia only partly followed the world wide trends of improvements in labour markets. Despite the economic growth achieved in most economies over recent years, the region as a whole did not see any considerable improvements in terms of decreasing the total number of unemployed. In 2004 total unemployment in the region was 35 million, almost identical to the number in 2003. During 2004, employment grew by 2 million, which represents only 4 per cent of the employment increase in the world during this period. The employment-to-population ratio continued to decline, in keeping with the trend over the last ten year. Despite the stagnant trends in employment and unemployment in the region there is one labour market indicator which showed considerable improvements over the last five years: labour productivity. This is especially true for Central and Eastern Europe and CIS, which after the region of East Asia, saw the highest growth in productivity (measured as output per person employed) of all world regions.

The supplement prepared for the 7th European Regional Meeting describes the latest labour market trends in Europe and Central Asia and points out the challenges ahead.
    
    
   
0 Last update: 14 October 2005