Lack of jobs is linked to unrest

UN: 285 MILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE UNDEREMPLOYED

More than 60% of the global workforce currently employed in informal economy.

More than 470 million people worldwide are currently unemployed or underemployed, the United Nations said this week, warning that a lack of access to decent jobs was contributing to social unrest.

The global unemployment rate has remained relatively stable over much of the past decade, according to the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO).

But while the rate, which was 5.4% last year, is not expected to change much, overall jobless numbers are likely to inch up as slowing economies reduce the number of jobs and populations grow. The number of people registered as unemployed is expected to rise to 190.5 million, up from 188 million last year, ILO said in its annual World Employment and Social Outlook report.

At the same time, the UN body stressed that about

285 million people worldwide are considered underemployed, meaning they either work less than they want to, have given up searching for work or otherwise lack access to the labour market.

That amounts to nearly half a billion people and represents a full 13% of the global labour force.

“For millions of working people, it is becoming increasingly difficult, I think, to build better lives through work,” ILO chief Guy Ryder said, adding lack of access to decent work appeared to be part of what was spurring growing protest movements and unrest around the world. According to the ILO’s “social unrest index”, there was an increase at the global level and in seven out of 11 subregions between 2009 and last year.

The ILO report said more than 60% of the global workforce currently work in the informal economy, and last year more than 630 million people – a fifth of the global working population – lived in so-called working poverty, meaning they made less than $3.20 (R46) per day in purchasing power. – AFP

Situation is worse than we previously thought