The ILO has called for a 'job-oriented' strategy to fight the global crisis, saying 90 million jobs are needed worldwide in next two years to absorb new entrants and avoid increasing the level of unemployment.

"We need to implement a coherent and coordinated job-oriented recovery strategy, based on sustainable enterprises, as soon as possible," International Labour Organisation director general Juan Somavia said on Wednesday.

"If stimulus efforts are delayed, the jobs crisis will be prolonged and severe and employment may only start to recover as from 2011," he said.

The ILO said that the world needed 90 million new jobs between 2009 and 2010 in order to absorb new entrants to the labour market and avoid increasing the level of unemployment.

Some 200 million people were jobless in 2008, the labour body said. This is up from 179 million in 2007 recorded in a January ILO report 'Global Employment Trends 2009'.

Somavia called for a 'Global Jobs Pact' to forestall a 'prolonged and severe' jobs crisis that would lead to a massive increase in unemployment and working poverty. However, he did not specify what such a pact would entail.