Ooops, world jobless total could rise 25m, not 20m

Ooops, world jobless total could rise 25m, not 20m

PARIS

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

THE global economic crisis will push up unemployment by up to 25 million by 2010, the OECD head forecast yesterday, saying there had been a "truly scandalous failure" of regulatory supervision.

"We're heading for a loss of between eight and 10 million jobs in the OECD area... and 20 to 25 million in the world as a whole between now and 2010," Angel Gurria said on France's BFM radio.

The International Labour Organisation earlier forecast that the number of global unemployed could go up by 20 million to reach a record high point of 210 million people by the end of 2009.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris brings together 30 countries, including all the world's industrialised economies. The group conducts research and publishes economic forecasts.

Gurria also said that European countries should spend more in stimulus plans to kickstart their economies and suggested that the European Central Bank should lower interest rates because of falling inflation.

The European Union should "go beyond" the fiscal stimulus plans already announced, equivalent to around 1.4 per cent of GDP, since "all the other major countries are going beyond that", Gurria said.

He also said that the OECD economies were in recession in the current quarter and would remain so for at least the first two quarters of 2009, with many countries being in recession for most of 2009.

Commenting on the build-up to the crisis, Gurria said there had been "a truly scandalous failure of regulation... and supervision", and poor risk management and corporate governance by companies.AFP