Istanbul  - International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Friday that rising unemployment in wealthy countries was casting "a long shadow" over the global recovery.

Speaking before the IMF and World Bank's annual meetings in Istanbul, Strauss-Kahn said the world economy had "turned a corner" after a devastating recession, but he warned that the crisis would not be considered over until jobs were being added in the world's major economies.

"I'm still very much concerned about rising unemployment," Strauss-Kahn said. Job losses would likely continue for many more months and "casts a long shadow over the recovery."

The IMF, in its semi-annual World Economic Outlook released Thursday, said it expected unemployment to peak at 10.1 per cent in the United States in 2010 and could climb to nearly 12 per cent in the euro area by 2011.

Strauss-Kahn also said the recovery has so far been driven by massive public spending measures rather than an uptick in private demand. He warned that an early pull-back of support by governments "could harm the recovery." (dpa)