More women than men lose jobs as economic crisis continues - ILO

by mtammas | March 22, 2009 at 05:25 pm

1048 views | 36 Recommendations | 0 comments

In its annual report, Global Employment Trends for Women, the International Labour Organization says that as the world's economic crisis continues, women will lose more jobs than men, with up to 22 million out of work by the end of 2009.

The continuing global economic crisis will likely see more women than men lose their jobs in the year ahead, the International Labour Organization warns.

In its annual report Global Employment Trends for Women, the Geneva-based employment equity organization said up to 22 million women could join the ranks of the unemployed in 2009.

ILO director-general Juan Somanvia said that in tough financial times women disproportionately experience negative affects, and recover more slowly than their male co-workers when economies start to turn around. "And already before the crisis, the majority of working women were in the informal economy with lower earnings and less social protection," Somanvia said.

The report indicates that of the three billion people employed around the world in 2008, 1.2 billion were women.

In 2009, it predicts the global unemployment rate for women could reach 7.4 per cent, compared to seven per cent for men.

Not surprisingly, women living in poor or developing countries will bear more of the losses.

The report predicts the gender impact of the economic crisis is expected to be worse for women in most parts of the world, but particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The countries where unemployment rates may have less of an impact on women include East Asia, developed economies and the non-European Union which had narrower gender gaps in job opportunities prior to the current economic crisis.

The ILO is an agency of the United Nations that focuses on labour issues.