Governments must act fast and decisively to prevent the recession turning into a long-term unemployment crisis, the head of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said Wednesday.
The OECD is forecasting a new postwar record for unemployment in leading industrialized countries in 2010.
The jobless rate will approach 10% in the latter half of 2010, as the global economy looks set for only a timid recovery, the OECD said.
That compares to the current postwar high of 8.3% in its 30 member countries, as of June.
“Employment is the bottom line of the current crisis. It is essential that governments focus on helping job seekers in the months to come,” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said at the launch of the report.
The OECD calls the short-term jobs outlook “grim,” adding that labour market conditions appear set to deteriorate further in the coming months.
It also says there is a risk that the rise in joblessness could result in a permanently higher unemployment level that could take many years to bring back down.
Canada’s jobless rate rose to 8.6% in June. The U.S. unemployment rate was 9.5%. The OECD says nearly 15 million people have joined the ranks of the jobless since the end of 2007.
Under this scenario, the number of unemployed in the OECD will rise by more than 25 million people in less than three years, comparable to the job losses over the 10-year period until the early 1980s, the report noted.
The OECD urged governments to spend more on active labour market policies, such as jobseeker support, training and labour-demand support, that help the unemployed find work.
IE
Global jobless rate to climb to 10% in 2001: OECD
Essential that governments focus on helping job seekers
- By: IE Staff
- September 16, 2009 September 16, 2009
- 08:55