All-time high in number of jobless worldwide

Anita Joshua
The Hindu, 25 January

THE GLOBAL unemployment rate stood at 6.3 per cent in 2006. Though it registered a drop of 0.1 per cent over the previous year and more people the world over are working than ever before, the annual trends, released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Wednesday, put the number of unemployed globally at an all-time high of 195.2 million.

The report confirmed a pattern seen over the past few years: joblessness and poverty among those in work remain untouched by the robust economic growth. And, the trend is set to continue this year.

That it will be difficult to sustain such strong economic growth indefinitely is cause for concern to the ILO. Moreover, while the percentage of the working poor in total employment declined over the past decade, the number of working people eking out a living on $ 2 a day has continued to grow in absolute numbers — touching 1.37 billion in 2006.

In South Asia, another worrying phenomenon is the growing gap in the situation between working women and men. Only 36 per cent of working age women are actively engaged in the labour market as against 82.2 per cent men. Though South Asia is second to the Middle East and North Africa on this count, the gap there is being bridged.

Worse still, the chances of women losing their jobs are higher than men in South Asia. Over the past decade, the unemployment rate among women increased from 4.9 to 6.2 per cent and among men from 4.2 to 4.9 per cent, resulting in the overall unemployment rate rising from 4.4 per cent in 1996 to 5.2 per cent in 2006.

For the first time, the services sector has overtaken agriculture, accounting for 40 per cent of total employment, while the share of agriculture has dropped to 38.7 per cent. Industry accounted for 21.3 per cent. South Asia bucked this trend, continuing to depend heavily on agriculture for employment.

Also, the region accounts for the bulk of the employed living on $ 2 a day. In fact, their number went up from 458 million in 2001 to 498 million in 2006.