ILO’s Employment and Social Trends 2026 Projects Global Unemployment Rate Unchanged at 4.9% in 2026

In January 2026, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) released its latest report titled ‘Employment and Social Trends 2026: World of Work Series’ in Geneva, Switzerland. As per the report, the global unemployment rate is projected to remain unchanged at 4.9% in 2026 which is equivalent to 186 million people/workers worldwide still lacking access to quality jobs and also, this global unemployment rate will continue to be the same until 2027.

• The report has further highlighted the wider global jobs gap (i.e. capturing people who want paid work but cannot access it) is expected to reach 408 million in 2026.

Key Findings:

Extreme Poverty: As per the report, the share of workers living in extreme poverty declined by 3.1 percentage points to 7.9% between 2015 and 2025.

• Nearly 300 million workers continue to live in extreme working poverty, earning less than USD 3 per day.

Global Informality Rate: Between 2015 and 2025, the global rate of informality increased by 0.3 percentage points, after having declined in the previous decade (2005-2015).

• Globally, 2.1 billion workers are projected to be informally employed in 2026.
• The report noted that the higher rates of informality were mainly concentrated in African and Southern Asia regions.

Global LFPR: The report has projected that the global Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) will decline by nearly 0.2 percentage points each year, reaching 60.5% in 2027.

Demographic Shifts: The Global employment growth rate is estimated at 1.0% in 2026, which is slightly below the average of the previous decade.

• It also projected job growth will be 0.5% in upper middle-income countries compared to 1.8% in lower middle-income countries, and 3.1% in low-income countries.

Persistent Gender Inequality: As per the ILO’s latest report, women accounted for only 2/5th (40%) of global employment in 2025 that reflects significant barriers to accessing employment.

• The report highlighted that women were 24.2 percentage points less likely than men to be in the labour force and also, young women were 14.4 percentage points more likely than young men Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET).
• The report mentioned that the job gap rate continues to be higher for women than men, with an estimated gap of 4.3 percentage points in 2026.

Global Youth Unemployment Rate: The report showed that the global youth unemployment rate increased from 12.3% (in 2024) to 12.4% (2025).

• The share of youth with NEET status increased marginally from 19.9% (in 2024) to 20% (in 2025) i.e. nearly 260 million young people around the world, while NEET rates are significantly higher in low-income countries at 27.9%.

Trade Uncertainty: The report noted that the global economy witnessed upheaval in international trade rules and tariff rates, led by the United States of America (USA).

• The report mentioned that trade remains a major source of employment, generating  around 465 million jobs in 80 countries and territories (in 2024), of which more than 50% were in Asia and the Pacific.
• These global trade disruptions and supply chain bottlenecks are affecting worker’s wages, especially in Southeast Asia, Southern Asia, and Europe.

Income Losses: The report projected income losses are greatest in regions that are heavily dependent on supply chains like: up to 0.45% (Southeast Asia), and up to 0.3% (in Europe and Southern Asia).

About International Labour Organisation (ILO):
Director-General (DG) – Gilbert F. Houngbo
Headquarters- Geneva, Switzerland
Member nations- 187
Established- 1919