Global Agenda Council on Employment 2012-2014

The world faces a serious jobs crisis. Unemployment is set to rise in 2013 in a number of countries and more than 200 million people will be without work. More than two in five of the jobless are under the age of 24. In the EU, more than one in five people in this age range cannot find a job. Increasing numbers of workers around the world are being forced into short-term contracts or the informal economy. Globally, the creation of productive jobs that enable poverty to be reduced in emerging and developing countries is insufficient to keep pace with the growth of the working-age population and rural-urban migration. In advanced countries, job destruction outpaces new job openings, leading to rising unemployment and falling employment participation rates.