UN: Global unemployment down, but too many working poor The UN agency responsible for monitoring global employment, the International Labour Organisation, announces the global unemployment rate inched down last year, warning though that jobs often failed to guarantee decent living with some 700 million workers wallowing in poverty. Unemployment around the world fell last year to 5.0 percent -- from 5.1 percent in 2017 -- for the first time dropping to the level seen before the global financial crisis hit in 2008. IMAGES of a press conference held by the ILO AND SOUNDBITES from Deborah Greenfield, ILO Deputy Director-General