PARIS: The world economy is growing faster than it has in seven years and more and more people are working but the high growth isn`t expected to last long, and wages remain stubbornly stagnant.

That`s according to forecasts onTuesdayfromtheOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which urged governments to do more to ensure longer-term growth and better living standards across the board.

The group, which recommends policies for leading economies, predicts sustained growth in the US this year and next and a sharper-than-expected increase in the countries that use the euro currency.

For 2019, however, the OECD forecasts `a tempering of growthrather than continued strengthening.

Chief Economist Catherine Mann urged faster re-training of workers amid drastic technological changes, extending retirement ages, investing in renewable energy and simplified tax rules to reduce risks of a new downturn.

`We`ve got wind under the wings but we`re flying low,` she said at the OECD headquarters in Paris.

The agency slightly raised its global growth forecast to 3.6 per cent this year the highest since the post-crisis upturn in 2010 thanks to rising industrial production, trade and technology spending.

But that `remains modest by past standards,` the OECD said.

Globally, it forecasts 3.7pcgrowth next year with a slight drop to 3.6pc in 2019.

In the United States, the OECD inched up its outlook, predicting 2.2pc growth this year and 2.5pc in 2018 thanks to `buoyant asset prices and strong business and consumer confidence.` It expects US growth to fall bacl( to 2.1pc in 2019.

The OECD cautioned that its forecasts are clouded by uncertainty over President Donald Trump`s tax policies and risks of protectionist trade moves. Trump campaigned to protect manufacturing jobs in the US and renegotiateinternationaltrade dealshe sees as unfair.

The long-troubled eurozone enjoyed another boost as the OECD became the latest group to raise its forecasts for the 19country region. -AP