On January 17, 2022, the International Labour Organization (ILO) released a report namely ‘World Employment and Social Outlook (WESO) Trends 2022’ projecting global unemployment at 207 million in 2022, surpassing its 2019 level (186 million) by 21 million. This rise is due to slow economic recovery and the spread of new COVID-19 variants viz. Delta and Omicron.
- The global unemployment rate is projected to reach 5.9% in 2022. This figure shows an improvement from 6.2% in 2021 and 6.6% in 2020, but it is still above 5.4% in 2019 (pre-pandemic level).
- The total hours worked in 2022 will be 8% below the 2019 level, means there is a deficit of 52 million full-time equivalent jobs, on an assumption of 48-hour working week.
Key Points:
i.The global labour force participation rate, the number of people in work or seeking employment is projected to be 59.3% in 2022 which is 1.2 percentage points below 2019 level.
ii.In 2022, the employment-to-population ratio is projected to stand at 55.9% i.e. 1.4 percentage points below its 2019 level.
iii.This outlook represents deterioration since the projections made in June 2021 when the shortfall in working hours relative to the fourth quarter of 2019 (Q4FY20) was projected to narrow to less than 1% in 2022.
iv.In the recovery phase, employment growth in low- and middle-income countries have remained significantly below those observed in richer economies.
- This impact is serious for developing nations experiencing rising inequality, more divergent working conditions, and weaker social protection systems even before the pandemic
v.As per projections full recovery of the global economy will remain difficult through 2023. In 2023 too there will still be around 27 million fewer jobs.
Recent Related News:
In September 2021, ILO released its flagship report on social protection named ‘World Social Protection Report 2020-22: Social protection at the crossroads – in pursuit of a better future’. As per the report, half of the global population i.e. 53 percent (4.1 billion) did not have any kind of social security.
About International Labour Organisation (ILO):
Director-General– Guy Ryder
Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland
Member Nations– 187
