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UN: 27 million people became unemployed in 2009

27 January 2010 03:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade â€“ APA. Twenty-seven million people around the world lost their jobs in 2009, the U.N. labor agency said Wednesday, warning of a jobless recovery in a report released on the opening day of the World Economic Forum, APA reports citing â€œAssociated Pressâ€.

About 12 million of the newly unemployed were in North America, Japan and Western Europe, the International Labor Organization said. The jobless jumped by nearly four million in both Eastern Europe and Latin America, while unemployment rates were more stable last year in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The figures point to the need for a "global jobs pact" to boost employment around the world, the ILO said.

In an 82-page report, the Geneva-based agency said it expected unemployment to remain high through 2010, with perhaps an additional 3 million people in the rich world losing their jobs or unable to find employment as they enter the job market.

It said the global unemployment rate was 6.6 percent last year, but that the true scope of the problem was much worse because over 600 million workers and their families were surviving on less than $1.25 a day. Another 200 million were hovering just above the international poverty line.

The ILO timed its report for Wednesday’s start of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, where 2,500 business and political leaders will spend five days debating financial reforms, job creation strategies and other key elements of economic recovery.