Warning of job loss 'tidal wave'

Somavia with Kofi Annan: No quick-fix solution

By Imogen Foulkes in Bern

In Geneva, a major conference on employment has ended with a warning that millions of people across the world face losing their jobs if action is not taken now to safeguard them.

Winding up the three-day Global Forum on Employment, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said the need to tackle an impending crisis in the global jobs market was now urgent.

"The loss of nearly half a million jobs in the United States in the past month shows that the tidal wave has started to move and will end up on everyone's shores," said ILO vice president Bill Brett.

An economic downturn was already under way before 11 September, but the terrorist attacks had made the situation much worse.

Stunning reversal

Hundreds of thousands of people in directly affected industries such as tourism and aviation have already lost their jobs.

Now, the ILO says, the world economy has been plunged into such a stunning reversal that up to 24 million jobs could be lost by the end of next year.

On the final day of the Global Employment Forum delegates launched a 10-point plan aimed at reversing the trend of job losses.

The plan calls for different sectors of the global economy, such as international trade and information technology, to get together in a bid to create jobs and alleviate poverty.

In his closing speech to the Forum, ILO Director General Juan Somavia said the need to act was urgent and warned that there would be no "quick fix" solutions.

Mr Somavia joined with other delegates to the Forum in appealing to developed countries to provide a global stimulus package to boost the employment market.

For example, the upcoming World Trade Organisation meeting in Qatar should, delegates said, join the fight for jobs by opening up international trade to developing countries.