At least 100 million people are unemployed in G20 countries with an additional 447 million working poor. Persistent slow growth will dampen employment prospects, with real wages stagnating or dropping. An extra 600 million jobs are needed worldwide by the year 2030 just to cope with the expanding population.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The world is facing a global jobs crisis that is hurting the chances of jumpstarting economic growth, and there is no easy way to solve the problem, the World Bank (WB) warned today in a report released at a G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting in Australia.

"We do know we need to create an extra 600 million jobs worldwide by the year 2030 just to cope with the expanding population," said Nigel Twose, the WB's senior director for jobs. And, "As this report makes clear, there is a shortage of jobs - and quality jobs."

"[E]qually disturbingly, we're also seeing wage and income inequality widening within many G20 countries, although progress has been made in a few emerging economies, like Brazil and South Africa."

The report, compiled with the OECD and International Labour Organisation, said more than 100 million people were unemployed in G20 economies and 447 million were considered "working poor," living on less than US a day.

The report noted that persistent slow growth would continue to dampen employment prospects, it said, and warned that real wages had stagnated across many advanced G20 nations and even fallen in some.

Ultimately, "There is no magic bullet to solve this jobs crisis, in emerging markets or advanced economies," Twose said, but progress can be achieved through the active collaboration among government ministries as well as the direct and sustained involvement of the private sector.

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