International Report Cites Global Employment Trends

By Robert Shew From BNA Inc.

An increasing skills shortage, a growing share of workers in the services sector, and a rising number of older employees are some of the shifting patterns affecting the global workforce, according to a report by the International Labor Organization released June 1.

In what it described as a comprehensive survey of worldwide changes in the work force, the United Nations agency said the global work force is expanding rapidly, with more than 3 billion people either working or looking for work. Another 430 million people are expected to enter the work force by 2015, nearly all of them from developing countries, according to the report, Changing Patterns in the World of Work.

The number of unemployed worldwide increased by almost 22% between 1995 and 2005, the survey found, with global unemployment now estimated at 6.3%. This figure, however, is down from the earlier spike of 6.6% in 2002, which followed the economic crises in East Asia and Latin America.

Women now constitute 40% of the global work force, with the growth of female workers particularly strong in developing countries. More than 52% of women of working age are now working or looking for work.

The number of workers age 60 and older is growing faster than other age groups, ILO said, a development attributed to increased longevity and lower birth rates. While the U.N. agency said this trend is likely to continue, it pointed out that the previously high participation rates for older men are declining, while those for women are increasing from a relatively low base.

The services sector accounted for almost 39% of worldwide employment in 2005, up sharply from 34.4% in 1995, the report said. In developed countries, services employment increased by more than 5% over the same period and now accounts for more than 71% of all jobs. In contrast, employment in agriculture dropped by 3% between 1995 and 2005 -- totaling 90 million jobs -- and now accounts for just over 40% of global employment, according to the report.

ILO said one trend is the increasing shortage of skilled workers. "Current growth is skill-biased, and not only in developed but also developing countries," the organization said. "Worldwide, firms increasingly require workforces that are more flexible, more skilled (especially in terms of computer literacy) and more adaptable to rapid changes in the business environment."

The report is online at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/st...95/reports.htm.

Job Growth in High-Tech Industry

Meanwhile, a new study on the state of job growth in the information technology sector in the U.S. has been released. Job growth in the IT sector has resumed over the past two years but has been weak and unsteady, raising employment by 2% to 3% annually, according to the nationwide study released June 14 by a Communications Workers of America local union.

The study focused on changes in IT industry employment nationally and in eight high-tech labor markets from March 2004 through February 2006, the most recent month for which data were available. The eight metropolitan areas studied are Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Calif., Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

The study was conducted for the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, or WashTech, a Seattle-based union formed in 1998 by Microsoft Corp. contract employees.

"Prodded by increased spending on information technology products and services, the IT industry labor market has been expanding slowly since May 2004," the report said. "When viewed in historical context, IT industry annual growth rates in the current period are anemic."

The study is based mainly on employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' current population survey for IT workers in the high-tech industry, not on IT workers in general at non-IT companies, according to WashTech.

Over the 12 months ended in February 2005, the high-tech industry added 34,600 jobs, or about 2%. In the subsequent 12 months ended in February 2006, employment increased by another 54,000 jobs, or about 3%, the study found.

Most of 54,000 jobs were added in the final five months of the period, the only time during the recovery that has shown "anything like stable growth," said Nik Theodore, a professor at the Center for Urban Economic Development who co-wrote the study. "But it's still too soon to declare that all is well," Theodore said.

Among the high-tech markets studied, the Seattle and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas' IT industry employment "has surpassed the highs achieved in March 2001," while recovery "also seems to be well under way in the San Francisco area," the report said.

The report is available on the Internet at http://www.washtech.org/reports/ITLa...ketsStudyL.pdf.

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