GENEVA, June 2 — At least 220 million people are expected to remain unemployed globally this year, well above pre-pandemic levels, with a weak labour market recovery exacerbating existing inequalities, the International Labour Organization said today.
According to ILO models, that equates to a global unemployment rate of 6.3 per cent this year, falling to 5.7 per cent next year but still up on the pre-pandemic rate of 5.4 per cent in 2019. Stefan Kuehn, ILO economist and lead author of the report, told Reuters that the true impact on the labour market was even greater when reduced working hours imposed on many workers and other factors were accounted for.
“Unemployment does not capture the impact on the labour market,” Kuehn said, noting that whereas hiring in the United States had resumed after massive job losses, many workers elsewhere, particularly in Europe, remained on reduced-hours schemes.