The labor 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 report by the International Labour Organization (ILO). Global unemployment is expected to stand at 205 million people in 2022, surpassing the level of 187 million in 2019. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 5.7%. The report projects the global crisis-induced ‘jobs gap’ will reach 75 million in 2021, before falling to 23 million in 2022. The worst affected regions in the first half of 2021 have been Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and Central Asia. The good news is that global employment recovery is projected to accelerate in the second half of 2021.
