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This is the VOA Learning English Economics Report. |
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Organizations like the World Bank |
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and the International Monetary Fund |
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expect the international economy |
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to perform better this year than in 2013. |
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They also expect economic conditions to improve next year. |
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Yet one United Nations agency worries |
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that economic progress is not creating enough jobs |
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for the millions of people seeking employment. |
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The U.N.'s International Labor Organization |
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is saying current economic growth |
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has not helped the world's unemployed. |
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The ILO released a report on employment this week. |
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Guy Ryder of Britain is the Director General of the agency. |
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He says the unemployment numbers for 2013 |
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represent an increase from the year before. |
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That means new jobs created by economy growth |
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are not keeping up with the number of people |
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entering the job market. |
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"The bottom line figure for 2013 is that there are nearly |
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202 million people around the world unemployed, |
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and that represents an increase of nearly |
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five million on the previous year," said Ryder. |
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The ILO says much of the increase came from East and South Asia, |
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they were responsible for nearly half of the additional job seekers, |
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many others came from sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. |
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The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, |
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Christine Lagarde raised concerns about job creation |
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during a speech earlier this month. |
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She said unemployment remained, in her words, |
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worryingly high in Europe, |
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an area expected to show economic gains this year. |
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One question is whether the current period of economic growth |
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is leading to job creation. |
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The ILO says, based on current information, |
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the world will have 18 million more jobless individuals by 2018, |
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many of these are young people between the ages of 15 and 24. |
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Guy Ryder says youth unemployment is a major concern. |
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"Young people are the particular victims of unemployment: |
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74.5 million of the unemployed, aged between 15 and 24, |
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that is one million more than the year before," said Ryder. |
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The ILO says youth unemployment worldwide is over 13 percent. |
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There has been success in reducing the number of working poor |
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over the past 10 years. |
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The ILO defines the working poor |
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as individuals earning less than $1.25 a day. |
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However, the group says 839 million people |
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earn less than two dollars a day, |
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that represents one-forth of the globe work force. |
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Low wages, the group says, mean weak demand and fewer jobs |
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created in areas like manufacturing and services. |
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And that's the Economics Report for VOA Learning English. |