World Economic Recovery Not Creating Enough Jobs

Organizations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund expect the international economy toperform better this year than in 2013.

Yet one United Nations agency worries that economic progress is not creating enough jobs for the millions of people seeking employment. The U.N.’s International Labor Organization is saying current economic growth has not helped the world’s unemployment.

The ILO released a report on employment in January. Guy Ryder of Britain is the Director General of the agency. He says there were over 200 million people unemployed in 2013: an increase of five million from the year before. That means new jobs created by economic growth are not keeping up with the number of people entering the job market.

One question is whether the current period of economic growth is leading to job creation. The ILO says, based on current information, the world will have 18 million more jobless men and women by 2018. Many of these are young people between the ages of 15 and 24 who are just entering the job market.

Guy Ryder says youth unemployment is a major concern. The ILO says youth unemployment worldwide is over 13 percent. There has been success in reducing the number of working poor over the past 10 years. The ILO defines the working poor as individuals earning less than $1.25 a day.

However, the group says 839 million people earn less than two dollars a day. That represents one-forth of the globe work force. Low wages, the group says, mean weak demand and fewer jobs created in areas like manufacturing and services.