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Despite robust GDP growth in 2005, labour market performance worldwide was mixed, with more people in work
than in 2004 but at the same time more unemployed people than the year before. Overall the global unemployment
rate remained unchanged at 6.3 per cent after 2 successive years of decline. At the end of 2005, 2.85 billion
people aged 15 and older were in work, up 1.5 per cent over the previous year, and up 16.5 per cent since 1995.
Given that unemployment is just the tip of the iceberg, the focus in developing economies should not be solely
based on unemployment alone, but also on the conditions of work of those who are employed. In 2005, of the over
2.8 billion workers in the world, nearly 1.4 billion still did not earn enough to lift themselves and their
families above the US$2 a day poverty line – just as many as ten years ago. Among these working poor, 520
million lived with their families in extreme poverty on less than US$1 a day. Even though this is less than
ten years ago it still means that nearly every fifth worker in the world has to face the almost impossible
situation of surviving with less than US$1 a day for each family member.
This brief updates the labour market trends to 2005 and addresses six key labour market challenges: 1) energy
prices; 2) the importance of labour market recovery after natural disasters; 3) the impact of the phasing out
of the Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA); 4) global wage inequalities; 5) sectoral employment shifts; and 6) labour
market challenges as a result of migration.
Changes in labour markets require constant monitoring so that appropriate policy interventions to support workers
and businesses can be applied. The ILO’s annual Global Employment Trends publications aim to provide those concerned
with the promotion of decent work for all with some of the basic information needed to continue to improve and target
policies.
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The KILM 4th Edition software is now available.
The report provides the evidence to show that global economic growth is increasingly failing to translate
into new and better jobs that lead to a reduction in poverty. Within this global trend, different regions
show mixed results in terms of job creation, productivity results, wage improvements and poverty reduction.
"The key message is that up to now job and income security for the world's workers has been an afterthought
in global development. Globalization has so far not led to the creation of sufficient and sustainable decent
employment opportunities around the world. That has to change, and many leaders are increasingly aware of the
need to make decent work for all a central plank of all economic and social policies. This report can be a
useful tool for promoting that objective." - ILO Director-General Juan Somavia.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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This edition of the World Employment Report examines the concept of labour productivity and the ways
in which it is linked to poverty reduction and employment creation in countries at various stages of
development around the world. The report works from the premise that for most of the world’s labour force,
it is not necessarily the absence of work that is the major challenge for improving living standards, but
rather the absence of work that is sufficiently productive for earning a decent income.
The report looks closely at the interdependence of productivity, output and employment. It traces the
main sources of productivity growth and pinpoints the principal influences affecting those sources
such as technological change, organization and composition of the labour market. It provides a
thorough definition of productivity and evaluates whether productivity growth alone is enough
to eradicate poverty in the future. The implications for labour market policy around the world
are also examined.
» Further information, press releases, to purchase, additional products, more...
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Young women and men are the world's greatest asset for the present and future, but they also represent a
group with serious vulnerabilities. In recent years increasing global unemployment has hit young people
the hardest and today’s youth are faced with high levels of economic and social uncertainty. All too often,
their full potential is not realized because they do not have access to productive and protected jobs.
Compared to adults, the youth of today are more than three times as likely to be unemployed. Yet open
unemployment is but the tip of the iceberg. In both industrialized and developing economies, young people
are more likely to find themselves working longer hours under informal employment, intermittent (temporary,
part-time, casual) work and insecure arrangements, which tend to be characterized by low productivity, low
wages and limited labour protection. There can be no doubt that there is a link between youth unemployment
and vulnerability; an inability to find a job creates a sense of exclusion and uselessness among youths
and can heighten the attraction of engaging in illegal activities. In addition, an individual's previous
unemployment experience has been proven to have implications for his future employment chances.
This report continues the ILO Global Employment Trends series to provide a valuable analysis of the current
labour market trends of young people. It incorporates the most recent information available in order to shed
light on the possible factors contributing to the increasing difficulties youth face today when trying to
enter the labour force. The report identifies indicators which help to quantify the situation of young
workers with an eye towards identifying the specific challenges necessary to meet the UN Millennium
Declaration initiative to "develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance
to find decent and productive work." The information provided here also offers a concise picture of where
decent work opportunities are most needed around the world.
For further technical information on World and Regional Estimation processes, click here.
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More women work today than ever before. In 2003, 1.1 billion of the world's 2.8 billion workers,
or 40 per cent, were women, representing a worldwide increase of nearly 200 million women in
employment in the past 10 years. However, women still face higher unemployment rates, receive
lower wages than men and represent 60 per cent of the world's 550 million working poor.
By analysing 7 labour market indicators, the Global Employment Trends for Women 2004 finds that
the explosive growth in the female workforce has not been accompanied by true socio-economic
empowerment for women, nor has it led to equal pay for equal work or balanced other benefits
making women equal to men across nearly all occupations. In short, true equality in the world
of work is still out of reach.
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There are over 88 million unemployed youth around the world, together comprising nearly half of
the world's total unemployment. The problem is especially pronounced in developing regions, where
young people are over 4 times more likely to find themselves unemployed when compared with older
workers.
Youth often face major hurdles when competing for employment. From lack of work experience, to a
deficiency in skill-specific training and education, the result for youth is long average job
search times and high incidences of temporary and part-time work, often in positions not covered
by labour legislation. In coordination with the Youth Employment Network (YEN), the ILO's Employment Trends
Team is working on the development of new indicators to better assess world and regional youth
employment trends to help policymakers analyse and address the pressing needs among youth workers
today.
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