UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Despite strong economic growth from higher prices for oil and other commodities, high unemployment remains endemic in Africa and poverty will not be arrested until millions of new jobs are created each year, said a new UN report released Monday.

    "The creation of decent jobs that can be performed by poor people is the single most effective way to reduce poverty in Africa," said K.Y. Amoako, the former executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

    In its annual Economic Report on Africa 2005, the ECA estimated that some 8 million jobs must be created each year to satisfy the growing number of job seekers.

    The report said that the region's economic growth increased to 4.6 percent in 2004, a significant improvement over the mid-1990s, when it averaged less than 3 percent. The ECA attributed this to governments' improved economic management, better performance of the agricultural sector and more stable political conditions in many countries.

    Despite higher growth, however, average unemployment rates have remained at around 10 percent since 1995, the second highest in the world after the Middle East. The actual situation is worse since the official statistics in many countries count people who are working in the informal sector as "employed" even though most earn very little.

    The most visible consequence of such high unemployment is growing poverty in Africa. At least 61 million more Africans go hungry today than in 1990, the ECA reported. Between 1994 and 2004, the number of workers living on less than a dollar a day increased by 28 million in sub-Saharan Africa.

    To redress the situation, the report stated, that donors should forgive debt, increase their official development assistance, and, critically, support universal education in Africa. Enditem