The economic downturn bites even deeper

"As many as 51 million jobs worldwide could be lost this year because of the global economic crisis, says the International Labour Organization(ILO).

The UN agency says that would push up the world's unemployment rate to 7.1% by the end of 2009, compared with 6.0% in 2008 and 5.7% in 2007.

The ILO's most optimistic forecast is for 18 million more unemployed, giving a global jobless rate of 6.1%"

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