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Global talks to check high jobless rate

WASHINGTON — A high-level international conference will be held next month to discuss new strategies to check the steep rise in unemployment resulting from the global economic crisis, the IMF said Wednesday.

The conference to be chaired by the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) will be hosted by Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in Oslo on September 13.

The meeting to be attended by government, labour and private sector leaders as well as prominent academics would “explore new ways of forging a sustainable, job-rich recovery from the global economic crisis,” a statement from the Washington-based IMF said.

The conference on “the challenges of growth, employment and social cohesion” will be “the first of its kind,” the statement said.

It is being held as the outlook for global employment continues to worsen in the wake of the “Great Recession,” brought on by the financial crisis of 2008.

According to ILO estimates, global unemployment in 2010 hovered at some 210 million people, an increase of 34 million since the eve of the crisis in 2007.

The conference will discuss “near-term policy responses to the steep rise in unemployment as well as ways to promote sustainable growth and development,” the statement said.

“We need the right policies to ensure a sustainable, job-rich recovery,” Stoltenberg said in the statement.

“The Oslo conference offers an arena for key policy makers and experts to explore ways to improve the quality of life and work for the millions of people affected by the financial crisis,” Stoltenberg said.

Among those named to attend the meeting are Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and British Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith.

International Trade Union Confederation General Secretary Sharan Burrow is also expected to attend.