"Up to 51 million jobs worldwide could disappear by the end of this year as a result of the economic slowdown that has turned into a global employment crisis, a UNs agency said on Wednesday.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) said that under its most optimistic scenario, this year would finish with 18 million more unemployed people than at the end of 2007, with a global unemployment rate of 6.1 percent.

In the worst-case economic scenario, the Global Employment Trends report said 51 million more jobs could be lost by the end of this year, creating a 7.1 percent global unemployment rate ..." [Reuters/Factiva]

ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said its message was 'realistic, not alarmist'. 'We are now facing a global jobs crisis...Progress in poverty reduction is unraveling and middle classes worldwide are weakening. The political and security implications are daunting.'..." [The Financial Times (UK)/Factiva]

AFP reports that, "The ILO figures indicated that developed economies would be hit the hardest with the fastest rise in unemployment rates, from an average of 5.7 percent in 2007 up to 6.6-7.9 percent in 2009. ...East Asia, which had the lowest regional unemployment rate at 3.5 percent in 2007, was forecast to experience a jump to 4.5-5.5 percent in a year.

The crisis could also push another 200 million workers into extreme poverty as they eke out a living in informal, underpaid and unstable work, especially in Africa and South Asia, the ILO predicted. ..." [Agence France Presse/Factiva]