The report World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2020 (WESO) was recently released.

About the Report

• The WESO report is an initiative of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
• ILO forecasts that unemployment will rise by about 2.5 million this year.
• The ILO is a UN agency whose mandate is to advance social justice and promote decent work by setting international labour standards.
• The report analyses key labour market issues, including unemployment, labour underutilization, working poverty, income inequality, labour income share and factors that exclude people from decent work.

Highlights of the report

• Global unemployment is projected to increase by around 2.5 million in 2020.
• The number of people unemployed around the world stands at some 188 million.
• In addition, 165 million people do not have enough paid work, and 120 million have either given up actively searching for work or otherwise lack access to the labour market.
• In total, more than 470 million people worldwide are affected, the report said.
• Almost half a billion people are working fewer paid hours than they would like or lack adequate access to paid work.
• Not enough new jobs are being generated to absorb new entrants to the labour market.

Data on working poverty

• Currently working poverty (defined as earning less than USD 3.20 per day in purchasing power parity terms) affects more than 630 million workers, or one in five of the global working population.
• Inequalities related to gender, age and geographical location continue to plague the job market, with the report showing that these factors limit both individual opportunity and economic growth.
• Some 267 million young people aged 15-24 are not in employment, education or training, and many more endure substandard working condition.

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