As unemployment levels in Asia is rising slightly in 2006, a report of ILO said that everyone is not benefiting from Chinas phenomenal economic growth. Global Employment Trends report of The International Labour Organisation (ILO) said that despite economic growth of 8.0 percent in East Asia last year, the highest in the world, unemployment rose 0.1 percent to 3.6 percent.

However, the ILO also found that poverty in East Asia had decreased, while the number of unemployed people in Southeast Asia was steadying after a gradual decline since the 19971998 financial crisis. Low and stable unemployment rates, moderate population growth and positive growth prospects in the nearterm make it likely that labour markets (in East Asia) will remain stable in 2007, the report said.

East Asian countries are falling behind in domestic integration, the report said. Inequality has risen, not just in income levels, but also in schooling and access to basic services.

The ILO said the effects of the financial crisis, which sent unemployment rocketing from 3.7 percent in 1996 to 6.6 percent in 2005, were still being felt across those regions, with overall economic growth in 2006 lower than in other parts of the continent.

However, the unemployment rate in the region stretching from Myanmar across to the islands of Fiji did remain steady at 6.6 percent in 2006 compared with 2005. Despite persistent increases since the Asian financial crisis, overall unemployment rates in the region remain relatively low compared to other parts of the world, it said. In South Asia dominated by India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan unemployment also remained steady from 2005 at 5.2 percent, up from 4.4 percent in 1996.