A record 1,000,000,000 people – one-third of the global work-force – are now unemployed or unemployed, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), which warned that millions more will be thrown out of work in the months ahead, as the Asian crisis spreads.

"The global employment situation is grim and getting grimmer," said Michel Hansenne, director-general of the Geneva-based organization, which is linked to the United Nations. Growing unemployment would bring more poverty and inequality across the world.

The Asian financial crisis is expected to increase unemployment by another 10 million directly and up to 20 million indirectly in 1999, the ILO’s annual World Employment Report predicts. The crisis has already driven Indonesia’s unemployment rate from 4% to 12%, increasing the number of those in poverty in that country from 22 million to 80 million.

Unemployment is also expected to rise sharply in Thailand, South Korea and China.

The ILO report also highlights the sharp drop in employment in central and eastern Europe since the collapse of the communist regimes nearly a decade ago. Only Hungary and the Czech Republic have seen real wages hold near their pre-1989 levels, while in Russia wages – when paid – are now less than 60% of their 1989 level.