Nearly half a billion people unemployed or underemployed

More than 470 million people are either unemployed or underemployed, according to the latest annual World Employment and Social Outlook report by International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The report indicated that 188 million people are unemployed while 285 million are considered under employed, which means they either work less than they want to, have given up searching for work or simply lack access to the labour market.

And ILO chief Guy Ryder said the figures are “extremely worrying” and is the cause of the increasing social unrests and protests around the world.

“For millions of working people, it is becoming increasingly difficult I think to build better lives through work,” he told reporters in Geneva.

“I think that this is an extremely worrying finding. Labour market conditions are contributing to this erosion of social cohesion in many of our societies.”

Another worrying figure from the report shows that 267 million young people between the age of 15 and 24 are not in employment, education or training, while many more in this group endure substandard working conditions.

“The situation is worse than we previously thought,” Ryder said.