The global labor market still needs time to recover and there could be a lag of 18 months behind the economy's rebound, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy said Monday.

"It is possible that there will be a stage between the recovery and the improvement of the labor market. It needs some time to pass," he told Canal+ television.

The WTO chief said the pace of the recovery in Asia, the United States and Europe would differ a lot, with Asia recovering faster than the U.S. while Europe as a whole following behind.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) predicted in a report last week that economic growth would slow down in Europe, the U.S. and Japan in the first half of this year after an active up-trend in the last quarter of 2009.

The Group of Seven industrialized countries would see a year-on-year growth of 1.9 percent in the first quarter of this year, with the U.S.growing 2.4 percent, outpacing Japan and the three largest euro zero countries -- Germany, France and Italy.