Global labour market recovery to start slowly this year – ILO

Millions of people worldwide have lost their jobs or had to reduce their working hours due to the coronavirus crisis.

If the pandemic does not worsen, labour markets should start to recover in the second half of the year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) reported in an outlook released on Wednesday.

But even the return to old jobs and the creation of new ones associated with an economic upswing would not be enough to make up for the lack of paid work in the coming year.

In addition to the returnees, millions of young people enter the labour market every year.

In 2020, 8.8 per cent of global working hours were lost relative to the fourth-quarter of 2019, equivalent to 255 million full-time jobs.

Despite a recovery, the coronavirus-related loss of jobs and working hours would still correspond to 100 million full-time jobs in 2021, and 26 million next year.

This means that 220 million people worldwide are likely to be unemployed this year, and 205 million next year. Before the crisis, in 2019, there were 187 million, according to ILO estimates.

The recovery will vary greatly depending on the region, according to the ILO.

On the one hand, this is because of variations in the pace of vaccinations, and on the other hand, because poorer countries are not in a position to put together large economic stimulus packages.

Source: GNA