Global economic crunch to claim 20 million jobs

Wednesday 22 October 2008 

Such a headline is scary but a reality it seems, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), a UN agency.

 

According to the ILO’s estimate released this week and which is based on International Monetary Fund (IMF) projections for the world economy, twenty million jobs will disappear by the end of 2009 as a result of the impact of the financial crisis on the global economy.

 

The toll on jobs could be even higher if IMF economic projections are cut, according to the ILO’s director-general Juan Somavia.

 

“We have to talk about the financial crisis in terms of what happens to people and what happens to jobs and enterprises,” he told reporters.

 

Somavia said the labour organization wanted to steer discussions about resolving the crisis toward job creation and other steps to promote the “real economy.”

 

“It would be tragic to respond to a subprime crisis with subprime policies,” he said.