Geneva: The labour market crisis created by the covid-19 pandemic is far from over, and employment growth will be insufficient to make up for the losses suffered until at least 2023, according to a new assessment by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
According to the United Nations (UN) agency, the economic crisis caused by the pandemic is expected to contribute to global unemployment of around 205 million people next year, with women and youth workers worst-hit.
"Recovery from covid-19 is not just a health issue. The serious damage to economies and societies needs to be overcome too. Without a deliberate effort to accelerate the creation of decent jobs, and support the most vulnerable members of society and the recovery of the hardest-hit economic sectors, the lingering effects of the pandemic could be with us for years in the form of lost human and economic potential and higher poverty and inequality," said ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, in a press release issued on Wednesday.
"We need a comprehensive and co-ordinated strategy, based on human-centred policies, and backed by action and funding. There can be no real recovery without a recovery of decent jobs," he stated.
The worst-affected regions in the first half of 2021 have been Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia, all victims of uneven recovery.
They’ve seen estimated working-hour losses exceed eight per cent in the first quarter and six per cent in the second quarter, far higher than the global average (of 4.8 and 4.4 per cent respectively).
Women have been hit disproportionately by the crisis, seeing a five per cent employment fall in 2020, compared to 3.9 per cent for men.
Youth employment has also continued to suffer the economic downturn, falling 8.7 per cent in 2020, compared with 3.7 per cent for adults.
The most pronounced fall has been in middle-income countries where the consequences of this delay and disruption to the early labour market experience of young people could last for years.
Pandemic-related disruption has also brought catastrophic consequences for the world’s two billion informal sector workers.
Compared to 2019, an additional 108 million workers worldwide are now categorized as "poor" or "extremely poor" – meaning that they and their families live on the equivalent of less than $3.20 per person, per day.
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