The number of employed people increased only slightly in 2004 despite robust economic growth in some parts of the world, the International Labour Organization said Monday. Worldwide, the number of people who got jobs drove unemployment rates down from 6.3 per cent to 6.1 per cent. There were184.7 million people unemployed worldwide in 2004, down from 185.2 million people unemployed in 2003. Latin America and the Caribbean showed the strongest job growth, where unemployment dropped from 9.3 per cent in 2003 to 8.6 per cent in 2004, the ILO said. The number of unemployed people in Europe and Central Asia remained unchanged at 35 million in 2004. The ILO said the slight global decline in unemployment in 2004 was the first since 2000. World economic growth was rated at 5 per cent in 2004, playing an important part in people receiving jobs, the ILO said. "While any global decline in unemployment is positive, we must not lose sight of the reality that employment creation still remains a major challenge for policy makers," said ILO director Juan Somavia. --More 2305 Local Time 2005 GMT
