The+issue+on+the+global+jobs+crisis.


 * Forum:** Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
 * Issue:** The issue on the global job crisis

**Committee Background**
ECOSOC is a founding United Nations (UN) Charter that was created in 1946. The main job of ECOSOC is to debate about and come up with policy concerning the world’s financial, environmental, and socially challenges (United Nations). There are always 54 members in the Council and the members are always elected by the General Assembly for a 3 year session. In ECOSOC the positions are delegated to member states based on their regional area. So, there are always 14 African States, 11 Asian States, 6 Eastern European States, 10 Latin American and Caribbean States, and 13 Western Eastern and other States.

**Definitions**
(Cambridge Dictionary) //unemployment//—the state of having no jobs //basic economic security//—the ability to afford food, medical expenses, and utility bills // poverty // —the state of living on less than 2USD per day; the state of being unable to receive clean drinking water, sanitation, education, food, and shelter //securitize—//to borrow money in the form of bonds which can then be traded on financial markets //mortgage—//an agreement which allows you to borrow money from a bank, especially in order to buy a house or apartment

**Background**
The current global job crisis is mainly the extension of the global economic crisis that happened near the end of 2007 and continued onwards to 2008 (Shah). The 2008 economic recession started out in the US and affected the rest of the world economy. Before 2007, investment banks were investing on some of the riskiest loans and trading securitize. However, by the late 2007 people were starting to see through the illusion the investment banks had created and the assets started to want their money back. However, the banks did not have enough cash in the deposit to return the money back to their assets. The problem was so bad that even big banks had to turn to the government for bail out. Famous investment banks such as the Lehman Brothers announced bankruptcy. Banks became nervous about loaning out money so it became really expensive for businesses to borrow money. This led to job cuts. In addition, people who bought real estate’s found the prices crashing and made it impossible to them to pay back the mortgage.

2008 global economic crisis affected the working people the most. According to ILO, about 30 million people lost their jobs. People started cutting back on consumption, which in turn caused more businesses to struggle. There became a great difference between the rich and the poor which reached record level in many countries. In North Africa and the Middle East, the joblessness and the great difference in wealth led to political unrest and instability.

**Current Situation**
Currently in the world about 1 in 3 workers are either unemployed or living in poverty, which leaves about 200 million people unemployed (Berman, International Labour Organization). However, it is predicted that by the next decade 400 million jobs are needed to support the new group of people coming into the market. This would mean that 600 million new jobs total would need to be created in order to bring everyone out of unemployment. According to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Director- General, Juan Somavia, job creation should be the number one priority. The global employment-to-population ratio has greatly decreased since the start of the crises to now. In 2007 the rate was 61.2%; whereas, in 2010 the rate is 60.2%. This statistic includes those that are self-employed and unpaid family workers, which have increased by 136 million since 2000.

One of contributing factors to the increase of global unemployment is also due the elevating levels of unemployment in the Eurozone. The unemployment rate in Spain is 22.9% and 18.8% in Greece (Berman). Since the world economy is so closely intertwined in the modern days, if one country experiences a severe downfall, it more or less affects other nation’s economy as well.

The United States’ unemployment rate has been getting better because by December 2011, 200,000 new jobs were created (Berman). However, there is a glitch to this solution. People were hired with the income of about $10-$15 dollars lower than the current workers. 20% of the children in half the states are still living in poverty. In addition, nearly half of the households lack basic economic security.

When more people are unemployed, it would be less likely for them to purchase products and goods because all the money needs to be saved and used only for necessities. However, if there are no demands for products, then companies and factories would lose money and more people will become unemployed. So, it turns into a vicious cycle.

**Bibliography**
Berman, Jillian. "Global Jobs Crisis: Third Of Global Workers Either Unemployed Or Impoverished." //The Huffington Post//. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 23 Jan. 2012. Web. 22 Mar. 2012.< [].> Eichler, Alexander. "Nearly Half Of All Households Lack Basic Economic Security: Study." //The Huffington Post//. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2012.< [].> International Labour Organization. "Global Employment Trends 2012." //International Labour Organization//. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. . Shah, Anup. "Global Financial Crisis." //- Global Issues//. 11 Dec. 2010. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <[].> United Nations. "UN Economic and Social Council; Resolutions; Decisions." //UN News Center//. UN. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <[].>