Two years of economic slowdown has pushed the number of unemployed to new heights worldwide, according to a recent study by the International Labor Office. The ILO estimates that at the end of 2002 the number of workers living on $1 U.S. or less per day was back to the 1998 level of 550 million. The following percentages represent unemployed portions of regional populations over the last three years:
2000 2001 2002
Percentage Unemployed
Middle East and North Africa 17.9 18.9 18.0
Sub-Saharan Africa 13.7 14.0 14.4
Southeast Asia 6.0 6.8 6.5
Latin America 9.7 9.6 9.9
and the Caribbean
Industrialized countries 6.1 6.4 6.9
Source: International Labor Office's "Global Employment Trends 1" (2002).
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