The outlook for the global labour market has worsened from last year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) says.

It called the situation an "urgent challenge" and said governments needed to create 600 million jobs over the next decade.

The ILO said it was more pessimistic because of the weaker global economy.

It added that globally some 1.1 billion people were either unemployed or living in poverty.

One bright spot was the ILO's finding that job creation was pushed up by good economic conditions in large emerging economies in Latin America and East Asia.

Growth concern

The ILO made its claims in its annual Global Employment Trends report.

"Despite strenuous government efforts, the jobs crisis continues unabated, with one in three workers worldwide, or an estimated 1.1bn people, either unemployed or living in poverty," said ILO director-general Juan Somavia.

The ILO cited three years of crisis conditions in the global labour market as the reason for its worsening assessment.

"Our forecast has become much more pessimistic than last year's, with the possibility of a serious deceleration of the growth rate," said the ILO's senior economist Ekkehard Ernst.

Discouraged workers

In its report, the ILO said that there are 29 million fewer workers in the