ILO Director-General Juan Somavia warns of "unprecedented jobs crisis"Wednesday 25 January 2006 (ILO/06/02)DAVOS, Switzerland (ILO News) - The world is facing an "unprecedented globaljobs crisis of mammoth proportions", the Director-General of theInternational Labour Organization (ILO) said today in a statement issued forthe annual World Economic Forum (WEF) taking place here.ILO Director-General Juan Somavia hailed the decision of the WEF to place onits 2006 agenda an item on creating future jobs, and urged the world's topbusiness and government leaders attending the Forum to consider urgent stepsfor tackling a worsening global jobs situation. (...)The ILO Director-General said the global jobs crisis was illustrated by anumber of factors:* Half of all the workers in the world - some 1.4 billion working poor -currently live in families that survive on less than US$2 a day per person.They work in the vast informal sector - from farms to fishing, fromagriculture to urban alleyways - without benefits, social security or healthcare.*Unemployment in terms of actual people out of work is at its highest pointever and continues to rise. In the last ten years, official unemployment hasgrown by more than 25 per cent and now stands at nearly 192 millionworldwide, or about 6 per cent of the global workforce.*Of these unemployed, the ILO estimates that 86 million, or about half theglobal total, are young people aged 15 to 24.*When people cannot find work at home in their communities and societiesthey look elsewhere. In the present environment, labour migration easilybecomes a source of tension, not to speak of trafficking and other similaractivities.Complete text at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2006/2.htm