Unemployment rise
September 16, 2009
The report, which looks set to influence next week's G20 conference in Pittsburgh, USA, addresses rising unemployment in the OECD's 30 member countries, which is approaching a record 10 percent.
Some 15 million jobs were lost between the end of 2007 and July 2009, and a further 10 million are under threat until the end of next year, the report says, despite recent signs of an economic recovery in some countries.
"The world economy is indeed recovering. We've thrown trillions and trillions and trillions at it and of course we're seeing results," OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said, "But employment is the bottom line of the current crisis. We cannot claim victory because we see economic indicators going up. We should not assume that renewed GDP growth will take care of this."
Highest unemployment since WWII
The annual report says that the OECD-wide unemployment rate has already reached its highest since World War Two, climbing from 5.6 percent at the end of 2007 to 8.3 percent by June 2009. The latest figure, for July, is 8.5 percent. "A major risk is that much of this large hike in unemployment becomes structural in nature," the report says.
This downturn is costing the world's leading economies more jobs than other recessions since the early 1970s, the report says, with the United States, Spain and Ireland reportedly taking the worst hits. Unemployment in Spain has risen by as much as 9.7 percent.
"The labor market outlook would be even worse if governments had not pursued expansionary monetary and fiscal policy," says the OECD. It estimates that government spending on anti-recession projects will raise total employment next year by about 0.8 percent That's 1.4 percent more than would otherwise have been the case.
Better education is required
Gurria also urged member states to invest in education to counteract negative effects as the world's economy recovers. "As we emerge from the global economic crisis, demand for university education will be higher than ever," Gurria said in a press conference, "Investments in human capital will contribute to recovery."
The OECD is a major policy forum for 30 of the world's high-income countries, though it does not include rising economic powerhouses China and India.
bk/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Susan Houlton