UNITED NATIONS, More than 200 million people are expected to be rendered jobless in 2022 due to the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations labour agency said Wednesday, noting that women and youth workers would be the hardest-hit.<\/p>\n
The International Labour Organization (ILO) also maintained in a new report that although the world\u2019s nations \u201cwill emerge\u201d from the ongoing health crisis, \u201cfive years of progress towards the eradication of working poverty have been undone\u201d nonetheless.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve gone backwards, we\u2019ve gone backwards big time,\u201d ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said. \u201cWorking poverty is back to 2015 levels; that means that when the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda was set, we\u2019re back to the starting line.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve 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).<\/p>\n
Women have been hit \u201cdisproportionately\u201d by the crisis, seeing a five per cent employment fall in 2020, compared to 3.9 per cent for men.<\/p>\n
\u201cA greater proportion of women also fell out of the labour market, becoming inactive,\u201d ILO said, noting that \u201cadditional domestic responsibilities\u201d had resulted from lockdowns which risked a \u201cre-traditionalization\u201d of gender roles.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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 \u201ccould last for years,\u201d ILO warned.<\/p>\n
Pandemic-related disruption has also brought \u201ccatastrophic consequences\u201d for the world\u2019s two billion informal sector workers.<\/p>\n
Compared to 2019, an additional 108 million workers worldwide are now categorized as \u201cpoor\u201d or \u201cextremely poor\u201d \u2013 meaning that they and their families live on the equivalent of less than $3.20 per person, per day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile signs of economic recovery are appearing as vaccine campaigns are ramped up, the recovery is likely to be uneven and fragile,\u201d Ryder said, as ILO unveiled its forecast that global unemployment will reach 205 million people in 2022, up from 187 million in 2019.<\/p>\n
The Geneva-based organization also projected a \u201cjobs gap\u201d increase of 75 million in 2021, which is likely to fall to 23 million in 2022 \u2013 if the pandemic subsides.<\/p>\n
The related drop in working-hours, which takes into account the jobs gap and those working fewer hours, amounts to the equivalent of 100 million full-time jobs in 2021 and 26 million in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis shortfall in employment and working hours comes on top of persistently high pre-crisis levels of unemployment, labour underutilization and poor working conditions,\u201d ILO said in World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2021, (WESO Trends).<\/p>\n
The ILO report maintained that although global employment recovery should accelerate in the second half of 2021, it will likely be an uneven recovery.<\/p>\n
Unequal vaccine access is to blame, ILO insisted, in addition to the limited capacity of most developing and emerging economies to support the strong fiscal stimulus measures that have characterised the approach of the world\u2019s wealthiest countries to the COVID-induced downturn.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout 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,\u201d Ryder said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS, More than 200 million people are expected to be rendered jobless in 2022 due to the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations labour agency said Wednesday, noting that women and youth workers would be the hardest-hit. The International Labour […]<\/p>\n
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