Unemployment rates in countries under the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) could have reached the 9.9 per cent mark by 2010 following the recession, the group has asserted.

Indeed, the organisation claims that some 57 million people will be out of work in one year’s time, up from the 37.2 million recorded at the end of 2008.

During this period the average unemployment rate was 6.8 per cent.

The prediction of 9.9 per cent unemployment would see the problem reach its highest level since the 1970s, according to the OECD.

However, in the last quarter of 2007, unemployment was at just 5.5 per cent.

Commenting on the figures, OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria said: "Previous downturns have taught us that the jobs recovery will lag a long way behind the pickup in economic growth."

Meanwhile, the Trades Union Congress has claimed that unemployment levels in the UK could be worse than that seen during the recession of the 1980s.

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