OECD expects 25 million unemployed by 2010[fr][de] 

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said 15 million jobs were lost between the end of 2007 and July 2009 and 10 million more could go by the end of next year despite signs the economy is picking up. 

"A major risk is that much of this large hike in unemployment becomes structural in nature," the report said. 

This is the second time the OECD has sounded the alarm on a social crisis in its member countries (EurActiv 31/03/09). 

"Governments need to take quick and decisive action to avoid the financial crisis becoming a fully-blown social crisis with scarring effects on vulnerable workers and low-income households," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría told a G8 conference of employment ministers in March. 

The secretary-general urged that traditional indicators to measure the state of global economies would not suffice and joblessness must be taken into consideration by governments trying to fend off another recession. 

"The world economy is indeed recovering [but] employment is the bottom line of the current crisis. We cannot claim victory because we see economic indicators going up. We should not assume that [renewed GDP] growth will take care of this," he told a news conference. 

According to official figures in the UK, one of Europe's youngest populations, youth unemployment has hit an all time low since 1997 with one in five young people now jobless. 

The OECD-wide unemployment rate has already hit the highest on record going back to World War Two, surging to 8.3% by June 2009 from 5.6% at the end of 2007, the annual report from the Paris-based OECD said. 

The latest aggregate readout, for July, is 8.5%. 

(EurActiv with Reuters.)