7.2 million more Asians likely to be jobless in 2009, says ILO

MANILA, Philippines -- Asia is likely to have 7.2 million more jobless people in 2009 than last year due to fallout from the global economic crisis, raising the region's jobless rate to 5.1 percent, the International Labor Organization said Wednesday.

It forecast the ranks of unemployed workers would likely balloon to 97 million in 2009 in Asia, the world economy's star performer in recent years but where a third of the population still live on a little over 1 U.S. dollar a day. Last year, the unemployment rate was 4.8 percent.

In the most pessimistic scenario, the number of unemployed could swell to 113 million, or 22.3 million more than last year, the ILO said in a report on the crisis' fallout in Asia. Read more