The report reveals big, widening disparities between countries. Unemployment in the US is projected to fall from 7.6% in May 2013 to below 7% by the end of 2014. In Germany, the unemployment rate will decline from 5.3% to under 5%. But in the rest of Europe, joblessness will remain flat or even rise in many countries. By end 2014, unemployment is expected to be just over 11% in France, around 12.5% in Italy, and close to 28% in Spain and Greece.

“The social scars of the crisis are far from being healed,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría at the launch of the report in Paris. “Many of our countries continue to struggle with high and persistent unemployment, particularly among youth. Therefore, the recent commitment by OECD Ministers to do more to help youth, as set out in the OECD Action Plan for Youth, is an essential tool in our fight against the scourge of joblessness.”

The hardship of the crisis has not been shared equally, says the report:

- In many OECD countries, job losses and earnings losses have been concentrated in low-skilled, low-income households more than in those with higher skills and incomes. In the large emerging economies, employment was less affected by the crisis but many workers remain trapped in low-paid, insecure jobs with little social protection.

- Young people continue to face record unemployment levels in many countries, with rates exceeding 60% in Greece, 52% in South Africa, 55% in Spain and around 40% in Italy and Portugal.

- People on insecure, short-term contracts, especially youth and the low-skilled, were often the first to be fired as the crisis hit and have since struggled to find a new job.

- Older workers have fared much better in the crisis, with their job rates rising or falling only modestly. Many are retiring later for a variety of reasons, including better health, the closure of access to early retirement schemes and also financial pressures. New evidence in the Outlook shows that this has not been at the expense of the young. Bringing back early retirement schemes or relaxing rules for disability or unemployment benefits for older workers would be a costly mistake, says the OECD.

Governments should tackle the jobs crisis with a combination of macroeconomic policies and structural reforms to strengthen growth and boost job creation. Over the past few years, a number of countries, including Greece, Italy, Mexico Portugal and Spain, have introduced ambitious reforms to reduce the gap in employment protection between workers on temporary contracts and those on permanent contracts. These reforms have the potential, if fully implemented, to promote a more inclusive labour market and a better allocation of resources leading to enhanced productivity performance.

A growing number of people, having been unemployed for a long time in the crisis, risk losing their entitlement to unemployment benefits and having to fall back on less generous social assistance. Minimum income benefits may need to be strengthened to support families in hardship, especially where long-term unemployment remains very high.

The Outlook also says that activation policies in all OECD and large emerging economies must be strengthened to help and encourage the unemployed and other inactive groups find rewarding and productive jobs. In particular, adequate resources must be devoted to active labour market policies, such as help with job hunting and training, and ensuring that these are sufficiently funded. Spending per jobseeker has fallen sharply since the crisis, by almost 20% on average in the OECD, as pressures on public budgets have risen.

Global Employment Trends for Youth 2013: A generation at risk attributes that high number to persistent unemployment, a proliferation of temporary jobs and growing youth discouragement in advanced economies; and poor quality, informal, subsistence jobs in developing countries.

The report, published by the International Labour Organization (ILO), states that the weakening of the global recovery in 2012 and 2013 has further aggravated the youth jobs crisis and the queues for available jobs have become longer and longer for some unfortunate young jobseekers.

“So long, in fact, that many youth are giving up on the job search. The prolonged jobs crisis also forces the current generation of youth to be less selective about the type of job they are prepared to accept, a tendency that was already evident before the crisis.”

It adds that increasing numbers of youth are now turning to available part-time jobs or find themselves stuck in temporary employment. Secure jobs, which were once the norm for previous generations – at least in the advanced economies – have become less easily accessible for today’s youth.

The global youth unemployment rate, which had decreased from 12.7 per cent in 2009 to 12.3 per cent in 2011, increased again to 12.4 per cent in 2012, and has continued to grow to 12.6 per cent in 2013.

Youth unemployment and its scarring effects are particularly prevalent in three regions: developed economies and European Union, the Middle East and North Africa. In these regions, youth unemployment rates have continued to “soar” since 2008, says the report.

By 2018 the global youth unemployment rate is projected to rise to 12.8 per cent, with growing regional disparities, as expected improvements in advanced economies will be offset by increases in youth unemployment in other regions, mainly in Asia.

“We have never before seen a crisis like the one facing young people today and it’s a crisis that requires everyone to act together,” says Gianni Rosas, coordinator of the ILO Youth Employment Programme and co-author of the report.

“That means Governments together with the social partners have to address the crisis now through strategies that focus on growth and jobs, and through policies and programmes that prioritize young people.”

Mr. Rosas says that a global framework, adopted by representatives of Governments, employers and workers organizations calls for action in five main policy areas: employment creation, education and training, targeting the disadvantaged, entrepreneurship and labour rights.

The best employment programmes, he adds, combine education and training with work-experience and job-placement support. They include incentives for employers to hire disadvantaged youth, such as wage subsidies, tax cuts or social security exemptions for a limited period.

“The current young generation is worse off than we were 20 years ago and we need to urgently expand action to address the current youth employment crisis,” he states. “We must keep the objective of improving the economic and social situation from one generation to another as it has been in the past. We cannot afford to go backward.”

“While fiscal and competitiveness goals are important, it is crucial not to tackle them through austerity measures and structural reforms that do not address the root causes of the crisis,” says the ILO in a snapshot of the EU labour market launched ahead of its 9th European Regional Meeting that opens in Oslo on Monday. “Instead, moving to a job-centred strategy could serve both macroeconomic and employment goals.”

The employment situation has continued to deteriorate since the introduction of fiscal consolidation policies. Following a pause in 2010-2011, unemployment has kept growing and shows no signs of improvement. Over the past 6 months alone, one million people have lost their jobs in the EU.

The are now more than 26 million Europeans without a job, with young and low-skilled workers being the hardest hit.

Only 5 EU countries out of 27 (Austria, Germany, Hungary, Luxemburg and Malta) have witnessed employment rates above pre-crisis levels. Countries like Cyprus, Greece, Portugal and Spain have seen their employment rate drop by more than 3 percentage points in the last two years alone.

Long-term unemployment is becoming a structural problem for many European countries. In 19 of them, more than 40 per cent of the unemployed are now long-term unemployed, meaning that they have been out of a job for twelve months or longer.

The worsening employment situation also means that the risk of social unrest is now 12 percentage points higher than before the start of the crisis.

How did this happen?

During the past three or four years, over-indebtedness and the draconian programs applied to cut down government deficits, were quickly translated into less and less economic activity and consequently into quickly increasing unemployment in the weak Eurozone countries. Only in Spain unemployment was endemic even before the crisis years. Ireland is also an exception, but a positive one, steadily overcoming now all its problems. However in all those high unemployment countries over-indebtedness and the real economy woes which followed, came seven years after the advent of the euro.

Until the first signs of the still ongoing crisis in the weak Eurozone economies appeared in the spring of 2009, all of them could borrow at the same interest rates as Germany. During the first two months of that year Greece had borrowed the unbelievable amount of around €50 billion. The financial environment though changed drastically in the summer of 2009 and towards the end of that year Greece became insolvent followed by Portugal and Ireland. Spain and Italy haven’t really joined this club but live under the Damocles Sword of their debts.

In short the introduction of the common European currency and the imprudence of the major German and French banks, in evaluating the creditworthiness of all Eurozone members with the same rate, drove many of them to the unsustainable region of debt. But it was not only the governments that borrowed heavily. All the peripheral banks were also offered practically unlimited credit from the major Eurozone banks in Germany and France. As a matter of fact at that time “the road to hell was paved with good intentions” and everybody thought the party will never end.

The difficult questions

The existential questions for Eurozone then come freely. Was the advent of the euro the basic reason for the over-indebtedness of the weak countries? Can the weak Eurozone countries follow the example of Ireland and effectively confront their problems? Given that the first question has a rather historic character it seems that the second is the crucial one.

A free translation of the question is the following: Is it possible for Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal and probably France to return to a sustainable growth path and start reducing unemployment? Of course all that, under the spell of a strong currency and the high cost or even unavailability of credit. Unfortunately the Eurozone has only made standard for everybody a disadvantage, the expensive euro. At the same time euro area financial markets are tragically fragmented. The cost and the availability of credit are drastically diverging between member states. Germany can borrow at almost zero interest rates, while at the same time Greece, Portugal, Cyprus and partially Ireland can’t borrow at all in the market, while Spain and Italy have to pay dearly for the refinancing of their debts.

This unsustainable arrangement has led to an also unsustainable situation in the labour market, with half of Eurozone being condemned to unseen before unemployment levels. And the next question comes naturally. Is the Eurozone itself sustainable, from an economic and political point of view given the situation in Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and now Cyprus? Can those economies start growing again in the foreseeable future, under the prevailing conditions?

This question is practically answered continuously but not yet conclusively in the streets of Athens, Rome, Madrid, Lisbon and Nicosia. The endurance of the political system in all those countries is tested every day. The stress on many occasions is so intense that an accident may happen. The reliance on the police forces is increasing all over the South. For how long can this continue? The option to leave the single currency zone is no more a taboo in the South. Hopefully the North has being informed about this.

As things stand now the disintegration of the Eurozone may come as an accident. Berlin has miscalculated many times in the last hundred years the reaction of the others. Is Germany once more being short-sighted? Unemployment is slowly but steadily feeding the political explosion and unfortunately the extinguishers are gradually been withdrawn. Bail-ins prevail.

From the europeansting.com. By permission.

According to the Greek Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), in the 4th Quarter of 2012 the number of employed amounted to 3,681,926 personswhile the number of unemployed amounted to 1,295,535. The unemployment rate was 26.0% compared with 24.8% in the previous quarter, and 20.7% in the corresponding quarter of 2011.

The number of employed persons decreased by 1.5% compared with the previous quarter, and by 6.4% compared with the 4th Quarter of2011. The number of unemployed persons increased by 5.2% compared with the previous quarter and by 26.3% compared with the 4th Quarter of 2011.

The figures revealed that the number of employed people stood at 3.7 million out of a population of nearly 11 million. About one million Greeks have lost their jobs since the recession erupted in 2008.

Athens has announced plans to cut an additional 150,000 public sector jobs by 2015, including 25,000 before the end of the current year.

The unemployment rate for females (29,7%) is considerably higher than the unemployment rate for males (23.3%). By observing the unemployment rate for different age groups, we notice that the highest unemployment rate is recorded among young people in the age group of 15-24 years (57.8%). For young females, the unemployment rate is 65.0%.

The country relies on international rescue loans, released on condition it imposes austerity measures like spending cuts and tax hikes.

The heavily-indebted country has been in recession since 2008, with unemployment continuously on the rise.

The two largest unions of the country, ADEDY and GSEE representing together about 2.5 million workers have called for a nationwide strike bringing the country to a standstill. The strike will affect public and private sectors as well as doctors, lawyers, teachers, port employees and seamen. Hellenic Railways (OSE) and suburban rail lines will be on a 24-hour strike. Buses in Athens will run only between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

In a statement GSEE said the strike was the answer to the austerity measures that have made the life of workers difficult and plunged the economy into recession and crisis.

Since 2010, Greece has relied on bailout loans from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund. To continue receiving these loans, the Greek government has cut the salaries and pensions of workers, stimulating many strikes and demonstrations.

This latest 24-hour general strike comes ahead of an audit by Athens’ international creditors scheduled for next week. The outcome from the audit will determine whether the country will receive its next installment from its international creditors, which is due this month.

Meanwhile, a visit by French President Francois Hollande in Athens on Tuesday went largely unreported as Greek journalists were on strike.

During the brief meeting, Papoulias told the French president that the Greek people’s tolerance for more cutbacks and sacrifices has been exhausted, warning of a possible “social explosion” if more pressure is exerted on the people. In his reply, Hollande said he did not arrive to demand more sacrifices from the Greek people. He also stressed the importance of Greece remaining in the Eurozone, and that a return to the drachma “would have been a catastrophe … the Eurozone crisis is over, the economic crisis continues…” AMNA reported.

At the same time, government said yesterday it would not fire almost 1,900 civil servants earmarked for possible dismissal, despite promising foreign lenders it would seek to cut the public payroll, Reuters writes.

Unemployment is expected to reach 30 percent this year,  according to a study by a government funded research agency published last week.

Hollande’s trip is a “message of confidence and backing,” his office said, adding that since he took power nine months ago the Socialist leader has championed the idea that Athens remain within the euro zone.

Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos said the visit was a “strong gesture of understanding, solidarity and support for the Greek people. “This visit encourages the pro-European forces in Greece who are struggling against the fierce opposition of certain interest groups representing the dysfunctions of the past and proposing the country΄s entrenchment and isolation from the European process,” he told Le Figaro newspaper. “Greece can be rescued only through a drastic improvement in its economic competitiveness,” Avramopoulos said.

The French presidency said Greece “remained an important outlet for French companies,” stressing that the majority of firms with units there had not closed operations since the crisis unfolded. The visit aims at “concrete ideas to spur job creation, display our confidence and seek economic partnerships,” it said, Capital.gr writes.

In statements with newspaper Ta Nea daily, Hollande said “I am here to offer France’s support to Greece,” and expressed confidence that French businesses would invest in Greece. “Both countries enjoy a long history of friendship during which each supported one another,” France’s president noted. “The French people feel solidarity with the Greek people in the hardships they are experiencing. The meaning of my visit is to express France’s support so that Greece succeeds as part of Europe’s future.”

Greece’s sacrifices “have been more painful than those of any other country,” the French president said, and pointed out that although making the state budget healthier is necessary, it is not enough; what is needed is measures supporting development. “I am coming to Athens to express France’s availability in contributing to this through the cooperation of our administrative mechanism, the commitment of French businesses, and the mobilisation of European funds. I reject a Europe that would condemn countries to an austerity with no end in sight,” Hollande pointed out. He said France could contribute in the sectors it excelled in, such as energy and water resources.

Referring to Greece’s efforts to restore its credit abroad, Hollande said “Trust has returned,” adding, “I have no doubt that our large businesses will participate in future tenders” for projects (source: AMNA). Hollande is meeting with President Karolos Papoulias at 3:00 p.m., to be also attended by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras; Hollande will also attend a Greek-French business forum at the Hilton Hotel (3:45 p.m.).

Forced labour includes people coerced into jobs which they cannot leave, trapped in debt bondage, trafficked for sexual exploitation and even born into slavery, according to the report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

“While most countries have adopted legislation criminalizing forced labour, punishment is not always strong enough to act as a deterrent, in some cases amounting to fines or very short prison sentences,” the agency said in a press release.

Many forced labour victims work hidden from public view, on fishing vessels and construction sites, in commercial agriculture and in factories. Identifying these victims remains a major challenge. The ILO reported that some countries fail to sufficiently support labour inspections which allow cases of abuse or possible abuse to be found before degenerating into forced labour.

“Forced labour encompasses brick kiln workers trapped in a vicious cycle of debt, children trafficked for forced begging and domestic workers deceived about their conditions of work,” according to the report.

There are an estimated 5.5 million children under the age of 18 forced into labour, or about 26 per cent of the 21 million victims worldwide.

According to the report’s authors, “vestiges of slavery” still survive in some countries, where “conditions of slavery continue to be transmitted by birth to individuals who are compelled to work for their master without payment” to pay off inherited family debt.

Domestic workers, the majority of whom are women and girls, are often victims of abusive practices by employers, such as non-payment of wages, deprivation of liberty, and physical and sexual abuse.

Forced sexual exploitation affects about 4.5 million people or 21 per cent of forced labour, according to 2012 figures released in the report.

In some cases, the victims are children trafficked across borders and abused. The ILO warns trafficking of people could increase in the future as a result of unemployment and as workers search for jobs in foreign countries.

Youth are especially vulnerable as they increasingly face bleak job prospects, with almost 74 million people in the 15-to-24 age group unemployed around the world, translating into a 12.4 per cent unemployment rate, ILO said in its Global Employment Trends report released last month.

ILO’s report is being released ahead of a meeting set for next week in Geneva with experts on forced labour representing government, workers and employers. The meeting will focus on prevention, victim protection, including compensation and trafficking for labour exploitation, and will re-examine the ILO’s Forced Labour Convention and the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention.

In its annual Global Employment Trends report, released yesterday, the International Labour Organization (ILO) notes that despite the positive trend of falling unemployment over the past two years, the number of unemployed worldwide rose by 4.2 million in 2012 with gloomy expectations of a further increase in 2013.

“An uncertain economic outlook, and the inadequacy of policy to counter this, has weakened aggregate demand, holding back investment and hiring,” Guy Ryder, the ILO Director-General, announced in a news release accompanying the report.

“This has prolonged the labour market slump in many countries, lowering job creation and increasing unemployment duration even in some countries that previously had low unemployment and dynamic labour markets,” he added.

In particular, the report singles out the impact of the global unemployment crisis – already afflicting over 197 million people worldwide – on the world’s youth, who risk losing vital professional and social skills as the length of their joblessness continues to grow. “Many of the new jobs require skills that jobseekers do not have,” Ryder confirmed.

According to the ILO, some 35 per cent of unemployed youth in advanced economies have been out of a job for six months or longer – an absence which directly impacts their long-term career prospects as their skills deteriorate. Others, meanwhile, get discouraged and leave the labour market altogether.

With almost 74 million people in the 15 to 24 age group unemployed around the world, translating into a 12.4 per cent unemployment rate for this subset, job prospects for the world’s younger workers are looking increasingly bleak, says the report.

The UN official pointed out that regional differences in youth unemployment were likely to be marked, with the situation expected to improve slightly over the next five years in the developed economies while emerging economies in Eastern Europe, East and South-East Asia and the Middle East would continue to see rising joblessness among its young labour force.

He added, however, that it was incumbent on international policy-makers to find a coordinated response to reversing the problem and urged governments to establish coordinated retraining activities to help young people bridge the skills gap caused by extended bouts of joblessness.

“The global nature of the crisis means countries cannot resolve its impact individually and with domestic measures only,” declared the ILO Director-General.

The report specifically calls on policy-makers to engage in three areas crucial to employment generation, including injections of public investment into job-creating initiatives while private funding remains shy; addressing rising labour market mismatch problems through retraining and re-skilling programmes; and focusing action on youth joblessness.

“The high uncertainty, which is holding off investments and job creation, will not recede if countries come up with conflicting solutions,” cautioned Ryder. “The costs of inactivity, of allowing long-term unemployment to grow and young people to disconnect further from society, would be far higher.”

Kosovo’s government has shielded the country from the sharp economic slowdown plaguing the rest of Europe by improving its investment climate and maintaining macroeconomic stability. As a result Kosovo’s economy has grown, and it is fighting the over 40 percent unemployment rate which makes a third of its  population very poor.

Lundrim Aliu, Communications Officer for World Bank Office in Kosovo, reported that the World Bank injected 61 million Euros into Kosovo’s budget, mostly grant money. The Sustainable Employment Development Policy Program (SEDPP) funds were disbursed from the end of 2011 to the middle of 2012, and had a strong effect on many sectors, supporting reforms and improving transparency.

The positive effects are visible, stated Bedri Hamza, Kosovo’s Finance Minister: “First of all, it is important for the macro-fiscal stability of Kosovo, as it involves significant amount of funds. They were distributed among several projects, which will have a long-term effect. he adds. Kosovo has a prosperity and economic growth estimated at around 5% for 2011.”

One of Kosovo bigger constraint in its pursuit of economic growth was Kosovo’s unfavourable investment climate. To remove the barrier, the government has taken steps to speed up and ease business registration. The measure has encouraged private investments, which create jobs and in turn, incomes for families. Twenty-six one-stop-shops for registering businesses have been established in municipalities across Kosovo, where in the past there was only one in the capital.

Reforms making it easier to do business are paying off: in the first 9 months of 2012, new businesses registration has risen by 24 percent if compared to 2011. Moreover, it is now evident that Kosovo’s reform efforts outpaced those of neighbouring countries, according to the Doing Business 2013 report, improving its ranking.

Muhamet Doblibora, the Director of the Kamila chocolate production company, who recently re-registered its business in Prizren, said: “Before, due to bureaucracy there was no will to register the business, today bureaucracy is reduced at a minimum.”

Recently, a glimmer of hope in the form of a public works program was offered to those who have been out of work for a long time. The program offers them a place in the workforce and an income to support their families. The public works program has created 3,500 temporary jobs: 2,000 for poor and long-term unemployed people.

Finally, the recent switch to computer-based records has made it easier for public employment centres to focus their attention on people who want a job.

Hake Gegaj, Employment Advisor says: “We can now very easily check if someone is an active or passive job-seeker.” This move, together with search capabilities, has made employment advisors’ caseloads more manageable.

The World Bank’s budget support program in Kosovo coordinated ten multi- and bilateral donors, and is the largest joint financing activity in the country; donors included the European Union, United States, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.